Pinkberry In Prison: Frozen Yogurt Entrepreneur Gets 7 Years For Beating Homeless Man

Pinkberry, the innovative chain that brought sleek, futuristic architecture and a variety of creative toppings to the previously downscale landscape of frozen yogurt shops, distanced itself from co-founder Young Lee after he split with the company in 2010.

Now Pinkberry might want to back off even more from Lee, as he was sentenced Friday to seven years in prison for a senseless assault on a homeless man near a Hollywood, California, freeway ramp in June 2011 — an assault the judge who sentenced Lee called “merciless” and “horrendous.”

“What this case boils down to at the end of the day, is nothing more or nothing less than a savage attack on a defenseless person,” said Judge Henry Hall, addressing Young Lee in court Friday.

Hall told Lee, 49, that he considered the former architect who designed the distinctive look of Pinkberry stores to be “a danger to the community.”

Prosecutors say the whole thing started when Donald Bolding was panhandling at the end of a freeway ramp in Hollywood, California — a common sight in Los Angeles. When Young Lee came to a stop at the end of the ramp, in his Range Rover and accompanied by his then-fiancée, Bolding lifted his shirt to expose a tattoo depicting a sex act.

The Pinkberry co-founder drove away, but angered by what considered a disrespectful act, he returned to the scene later with the tire iron and attacked Bolding, beating the homeless man until passers-by stopped and pulled him off his victim.

“If it wasn’t for those good people, this would have been a murder case,” said prosecutor Bobby Zoumberakis. “I have no doubt in my mind.”

Zoumberakis called the seven-year maximum sentence for the Pinkberry designer, “absolutely justified based on the conduct.”

Jieun Kim, wife of Young Lee, pleaded with the judge not to lock up her husband.

“It hurts me deeply when my child, who just started speaking, asks for his dad,” Kim told Hall, speaking in Korean with a translator. “I beg you to not separate our family, to keep our family together.”

Lee co-founded Pinkberry in 2005, along with his then-wife Shelly Hwang. The Pinkberry chain has spawned numerous imitators, all owing Pinkberry a debt for making frozen yogurt acceptable to an upscale, urban-hip clientele.

Young Lee left the United States after the attack, but was arrested when he returned in 2012. There was another man involved in the attack on Bolding, but the Pinkberry co-founder’s alleged accomplice is believed to have returned to Korea and stayed there.

Bolding has filed a civil suit against the Pinkberry entrepreneur, seeking damages related to injuries he suffered in the assault.