Pei-Yun Chung has etched her name in infamy after dining and dashing at New York City restaurants, with owners warning each other about the Taiwan-born woman playing them. Countless US media representative are now reporting that the 34-year-old influencer could end up facing deportation soon.
The wannabe restaurant-hopping food influencer has been arrested on multiple occasions, as per NYPD reports cited by the New York Post. Last week itself, she faced arraignment on theft of service charges. Even before that, she was taken into custody for dining and dashing at Williamsburg restaurants. Following her last weekend arrest, she was put on supervised release.
Despite being held accountable for her non-payment appearances, Pei-Yun Ching has shown no signs of remorse. Merely days after she held back for walking out without paying her bill at Sea Thai and Michelin-star eatery Misi, the Taiwan-born woman took to her Instagram to share photos of her Israel restaurant 12 Chairs outing. Management have since told the NY Post that Chung failed to pay for services at their restaurant as well.
Chung is believed to have targeted at least 11 lavish restaurants around Brooklyn since last month.
Who is Pei-Yun Chung?
According to her social media accounts on Instagram and LinkedIn, the Taiwanese woman currently based in NYC goes by the name Pei-Yun ‘Lu’ Chung. Her website profile on GitHub suggests that she is a dual-Master of Science and Fine Arts.
On her LinkedIn bio, she describes herself as a “Semi Retired & Senior UX Designer/Consultant.” Chung also claims to have been a ‘Senior User Experience Designer (Consultant)’ for JPMorgan Chase & Co from October 2022-May 2023. However, a company spokesman has since refuted the implication, telling the New York Times that they have no record of any employee with her name.
She further claims to have graduated from Pratt Institute. Meanwhile, on her Instagram, which has over 26,000 followers, she writes, “my bro is fighter jet pilot.”
Her LinkedIn profile, on the other hand, claims that she was born on 1990 and has received more than 50 honours in Sciences, Arts & Designs. Chung also claims to have six years of experience in technology, finance, e-commerce and more. In addition to flaunting her unverified links to JP Morgan Chase, she writes that Comcast Crop and Vanguard Group have also been her clients in the past.
Taiwanese NYC influencer’s immigration status
A year ago, she took to her LinkedIn to share “Pei-Yun (Lu) Chung’s EB-1A Visa Petition,” citing “extraordinary ability in Sciences, Arts, Designs.”
According to the official US Citizenship and Immigration Services website, one is eligible for the Employment-Based first-preference visa is you are “an alien of extraordinary ability, are an outstanding professor or researcher, or are a certain multinational executive or manager.”
The Department of Corrections website now indicates that she has been hit with an immigration warrant, as a law enforcement officials said she had overstayed her student visa. According to the NY Post, she came from Taiwan on a student visa in 2019. The qualification reportedly allowed her to study at Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute on a scholarship until 2021.
Immigration attorney Gadi Zohar stated that Chung would most probably become the subject matter of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hearing after her Wednesday court appearance.
“The criminal charges are probably what triggered the [Immigration] warrant. [Immigration officers will] likely pick her up from Rikers and take her to the immigration detention center,” the attorney told the NY news outlet.
Though believed to have overstayed her student visa, it remains unclear whether Chung is allowed to work in the UK. Official word on her immigration status is awaited.
Pei-Yun Chung’s lavish outings
As also indicated by her Instagram profile, the scammer “influencer” has often been pictured dressed to the nines, sporting designers clothes and shoes. With her LinkedIn page suggesting that her last job was in 2023, she had still continued to torment Brooklyn restaurant owners with her dine-and-dash streak.
Her bill-skipping routine continued to trouble restaurant owners as recently as November 19 at Hole in the Wall on Bedford Avenue and November 17 at 12 Chairs.
According to NY Post’s report, Chung is said to have stopped paying rent on her $3,350-a-month studio apartment in a high-end Williamsburg building, which is owned by ex-New York Governor Eliot Spitzer, since then. Moreover, court papers show that her lease there expired in August last year, with a judge having ordered her to vacate the location by December 1.
The New York Times further quoted Motorino Pizza’s owner Mathieu Palombino saying that Chung hit their eatery on November 11. As per their account, she spent hours clicking phots of her pizza, wings and lattes, acting like “most influencers.”
She pulled out two credit cards when she was given the $135 bill. However, both of those declined, as per the pizzeria’s owner. Chung then told them that she could posts photos of the meal on Instagram as publicity instead of paying her due.
But Palombino declined, with the staff telling her to leave her ID and pay the next day. Even as they threatened to call the police on her, Chung remained unfazed. The owner further foregrounded that there are times when somebody fails to pay the bill.
“Usually, we let it slide, if it’s a desperate situation. But to be taking pictures with a high-resolution camera and an Hermès scarf, it’s a little bit different. She’s clearly playing us,” he told NYT.
The bill-skipper has been in jail since Friday.