The true face of the 'gift certificate private loan' revealed after the death of a person in his 30s... Sentenced to 6 years for 2 crimes per day

At the Suwon District Court Criminal Appeal Division 5-1 (Presiding Judge Kim Haeng-sun) hearing on the 6th, the Public Prosecution Office requested the court to sentence Mr. A, a man in his 30s, to the same six-year prison sentence as the original trial on charges of violating the loan business law and false accusation.

The Public Prosecution Office also requested six years in prison for B, a woman in her 40s, who was an accomplice and was indicted on charges of violating the Money Lending Act and fleeing a criminal.

Mr. A and others were brought to trial on charges of making illegal interest profits through a gift certificate pre-sale method of lending small sums of money from January to May and then returning them as gift certificates of larger amounts when the repayment time came.

During that period, they lent about 230 million won to the victims 348 times and earned about 87.16 million won by applying an annual interest rate of 240% to 18,000%.

Mr. A is accused of making threats if he does not receive the gift certificate on the promised date, and falsely reporting 39 victims to the police for fraud, saying, "We only take money and do not give gift certificates."

Mr. B helped manage funds and books, and provided a cell phone and a hiding place when Mr. A fled.

Their crime was revealed through a police investigation on April 1, when a woman in her 30s who had borrowed money from Mr. A was found dead in a motel in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul.

The first trial court sentenced Mr. A to three years in prison, and Mr. B was sentenced to one year in prison and then placed them into court custody.

Accordingly, both the Public Prosecution Office and the defendants appealed on the grounds of unfair sentencing.

At the trial on this day, the defendant appealed to the court for leniency, saying that he was reflecting on his crime.

Mr. A's lawyer said, "The defendant is deeply reflecting on his mistakes," and asked, "It is unfortunate that the victim, who initiated the investigation, died, but please take into account the fact that the transaction with the deceased was already terminated after full repayment and was not included in the indictment."

In his final statement, Mr. A cried, saying, "I am truly sorry to those who suffered damage due to my wrong actions," and Mr. B also said, "I am sorry for causing trouble in society" and "I will work hard to the end to recover from the damage."

The appeal hearing in this case will be held at 10 a.m. on the 23rd of next month.