Noodle trouble: Celebrity chef’s diamond heist leaves victim in a lather

A Thai celebrity chef known for her popular noodle shop franchise was arrested yesterday in Bangkok for diamond sale fraud, resulting in 2 million baht in damages to her victim.

Police apprehended 54 year old Yuwadee, widely known as Chef Aoi, while she was selling food at a booth in a shopping mall on Srinagarindra Road in the Prawet district. The arrest followed a complaint lodged by a victim at the Bang Bon Police Station, whose identity remains undisclosed.

The victim, a fan of Chef Aoi, initially contacted her to purchase a franchise of her noodle shop. Over time, their conversations reportedly led to a close relationship. The victim expressed her need to sell her jewellery, including gold and diamonds, along with amulets, valued at approximately 2 million baht, to fund the franchise purchase.

Chef Aoi offered to act as a broker, gaining the victim’s trust due to her fame from participating in television cooking contests such as Top Chef and Iron Chef. However, months later, the victim discovered that Chef Aoi had allegedly used the assets as a deposit to support her food business.

Police reports indicate that Chef Aoi admitted to the charges, explaining that she had sold the jewellery to a television producer but had not yet received the payment. To partially compensate the victim, Chef Aoi paid 500,000 baht from her funds.

“I did not intend to flee and have been trying to find money to return to the victim.”

Chef Aoi cited financial struggles within her business as the reason for her inability to pay the full amount owed.

Following her arrest, Chef Aoi was charged with embezzlement and subsequently released on bail yesterday afternoon, October 8. She addressed the media, claiming the incident occurred a year ago and reaffirmed her intention to return everything to the owner, reported Bangkok Post.

“The incident happened a year ago, and I intended to return everything to the owner.”