The defendant shall be innocent.

1. Facts charged;

(a) Any person who intends to operate an unregistered credit business shall register with the Special Metropolitan City Mayor, etc. having jurisdiction over the relevant place of business;

Nevertheless, the Defendant, without registering a credit business on October 29, 2012, entered into a loan agreement with the other party to the loan transaction, such as F, etc. under the trade name “E” located in Gangnam-gu Seoul Metropolitan Government C, and carried out a business of lending money.

(b) Where an unregistered credit service provider violates the restriction on interest rates of unregistered credit service providers, the maximum interest rate under the contract for lending of money shall not exceed 30 percent per annum;

Nevertheless, around October 29, 2012, the Defendant loaned KRW 92,00,000, which deducted KRW 8,000,000 from KRW 1,00,000 as of October 30, 2012, to F, the Defendant agreed to pay KRW 108,00,000 by December 31, 2012, thereby violating the interest rate limit by stipulating that 104.28% per annum is 104.28% per annum.

2. The main sentence of Article 2 subparag. 1 of the Act on Registration of Credit Business, etc. and Protection of Finance Users provides that “a credit business” means a business of lending money, or a business of collecting claims arising from a loan agreement, acquired by transfer from a person who has registered his/her credit business or a credit financial institution under Article 3.”

Here, the term “business” means continuing to repeat the same act, and whether it constitutes such act ought to be determined in accordance with social norms, comprehensively taking into account various circumstances, such as lending or brokerage of money, repetition and continuity of brokerage, existence of business, purpose, size, frequency, period, and mode of the act, regardless of whether the act was simply equipped with human or physical facilities necessary therefor.

(see, e.g., Supreme Court Decision 2013Do8449, Sept. 27, 2013). The instant facts charged is premised on the Defendant’s being a credit service provider, and thus, the Defendant runs a business of lending money.