Fact Check

Peter Chung Email

What's the story behind infamous Chung e-mail wherein a young trader brags about his sexual conquests in Korea?

Published May 24, 2001

Claim:

Claim:   Employee of South Korean firm gets fired after his e-mail brag to his friends about his sexual exploits is made public.

Status:   True.

Example:   [Collected on the Internet, 2001]




So I've been in Korea for about a week and a half now and what can I say, LIFE IS GOOD....

I've got a spanking brand new 2000 sq. foot 3 bedroom apt. with a 200 sq. foot terrace running the entire length of my apartment with a view overlooking Korea's main river and nightline......Why do I need 3 bedrooms? Good question,.... the main bedroom is for my queen size bed,... where CHUNG is going to fuck every hot chick in Korea over the next 2 years (5 down, 1,000,000,000 left to go).... the second bedroom is for my harem of
chickies, and the third bedroom is for all of you fuckers when you come out to visit my ass in Korea. I go out to Korea's finest clubs, bars and lounges pretty much every other night on the weekdays and everyday on the weekends to (I think in about 2 months, after I learn a little bit of the buyside business I'll probably go out every night on the weekdays). I know I was a stud in NYC but I pretty much get about, on average, 5-8 phone numbers a night and at least 3 hot chicks that say that they want to go home with me every night I go out. I love the buyside,.... I have bankers calling me everyday with opportunties and they pretty much cater to my every whim - you know (golfing events, lavish dinners, a night out clubbing). The guys I work with are also all chilll - I live in the same apt building as my VP and he drives me around in his Porsche (1 of 3 in all of Korea) to work and when we go out. What can I say,.... live is good,... CHUNG is KING of his domain here in Seoul.....

So,.... all of you fuckers better keep in touch and start making plans to come out and visit my ass ASAP, I'll show you guys an unbelievable time....My contact info is below.... Oh, by the way,... someone's gotta start fedexing me boxes of domes,...I brought out about 40 but I think I'll run out of them by Saturday.....

Laters,
CHUNG

Peter Chung
The Carlyle Group
Suite 1009, CCMM Bldg.
12, Yoido-dong, Youngdeungpo-ku
Seoul 150-010, Korea
Tel: (822) 2004-8412
Fax: (822) 2004-8440
email: pchung@thecarlylegroup.co.kr



Origins:   Apparently the lesson of the Claire Swire incident hasn't quite yet reached Korea: Don't send messages

describing your sexual exploits from your employer's e-mail system (especially if you work for a staid professional firm), no matter how much you trust the recipients. One invocation of the 'forward' command by any of the recipients is all it takes to start a chain reaction that will send your e-mail on its way to thousands of e-voyeurs, land your name (accompanied by an embarrassingly graphic story) in the newspapers, and possibly get you fired from your job. The most recent victim is Peter Chung, an associate with the Seoul office of the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm.

In May 2001, Mr. Chung, a 24-year-old Princeton graduate who had started his job with Carlyle in South Korea only a few days earlier, sent the bit of braggadocio quoted above to eleven friends at the New York office of Merrill Lynch where he previously worked. At least one of them passed it outside the circle of recipients to acquaintances on Wall Street, and it didn't take long before Mr. Chung's private message was making the rounds of the financial world, eventually reaching his bosses at Carlyle. Chung soon found himself an ex-employee.

A few bits of sage advice from news accounts of the Chung affair:


  • "Never send an e-mail when a bathroom wall will do."
  • "If you don't want it published in The New York Times, don't write it."

Last updated:   12 July 2007





  Sources Sources:

    Delevett, Peter.   "E-Mail Bragging Gets Worker Fired."

    The [San Jose] Mercury News.   21 May 2001.

    Sorkin, Andrew Ross.   "An E-Mail Boast to Friends Puts Executive Out of Work."

    The New York Times.   22 May 2001.


David Mikkelson founded the site now known as snopes.com back in 1994.

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