A few years later, the couple got married and went on the run, after stealing nearly $2m (£1.5m) from the restaurant and its staff. They were eventually found hiding in a Tennessee motel by authorities, after Fox made the mistake of ordering a pizza to their room under his real name: Anthony Strangis.
Melngailis reportedly "transferred more than $1.6 million from her business accounts to her personal bank account, and Strangis spent $1.2 million of this money at Connecticut casinos," per Vanity Fair.
I won't spoil the plot, but Sarma ends up handing over $1.7 million to Anthony Strangis and leaving the government, her employees, and investors out in the cold to the tune of $6.14 million.
Strangis – who was also known as Shane Fox – was sentenced to five years' probation after stealing nearly $1 million from investors and Pure Food and Wine employees, and spent over a year in prison whilst on remand.
According to his first wife, Stacy Strangis, whom he met there, when Anthony would brag that he had a huge inheritance coming and had been a Navy SEAL—which his sister says he was not—his father would back him up.
Strangis spent nearly $1m (£760,000) of these funds at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, over $200,000 (£153,000) at the Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Connecticut, over $80,000 (£61,400) at luxury watch retailers, including Rolex and Beyer, over $70,000 (£54,000) at hotels in Europe and New York and over $10,000 (£ ...
In total, Strangis spent one year and three days incarcerated in Rikers Island. In May 2018, Melngailis and Strangis divorced. Unfortunately, very little is known about Strangis' whereabouts today. He is believed to be serving his five-year probation, which ends this May, in his home state of Massachusetts.
When Sarma and Anthony went on the run, they left behind a mass of angry, jilted employees, who were left high-and-dry without payment. However once the docuseries was finalized, Netflix execs decided to pay the balance of Sarma's substantial debt.
After reportedly stealing from investors, dodging tax bills, failing to pay employees, and briefly disappearing in January 2015, Melngailis and Strangis were found and arrested by local authorities (thanks to a credit card used to order a Domino's pizza) and taken into custody in Tennessee until they could be ...
After her breakup and without Baldwin to move on with, Melngailis eventually found herself talking to Anthony Strangis, who she knew as Shane Fox at the time. To Melngailis, it appeared that "Mr. Fox" and Baldwin knew each other because they would have short, quippy conversations on Twitter.
In a recent post to her blog Sarma Raw, the ex-restauranteur criticised the new Netflix documentary and specifically, how it ended. She addressed the circulating rumours about being paid for the docuseries (she wasn't), but clarifies that she insisted any payments be sent to her ex-employees.
Sarma Melngailis Used Money from 'Bad Vegan' to Repay Former Employees: 'I Did Not Get Paid Otherwise' Sarma Melngailis' earnings from Netflix's Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud.
After her arrest, Sarma's prosperous business was shut down, leaving her in debt. Sarma's net worth was close to $1.5 million when she went to prison. According to the show, she now owes over $6 million to her investors, employees, and others.
Strangis spent nearly $1m (£760,000) of these funds at Foxwoods Resort Casino in Connecticut, over $200,000 (£153,000) at the Mohegan Sun Resort Casino in Connecticut, over $80,000 (£61,400) at luxury watch retailers, including Rolex and Beyer, over $70,000 (£54,000) at hotels in Europe and New York and over $10,000 (£ ...
Melngailis lives in the Harlem neighborhood of New York and is active on social media — a recent Instagram post from Dec. 24, 2022, features a photo with her dog, Leon.
After the series debuted, Melngailis asserted that she is absolutely not in touch with Strangis. “The ending of Bad Vegan is disturbingly misleading; I am not in touch with Anthony Strangis and I made those recordings at a much earlier time, deliberately, for a specific reason,” she wrote in a March 16 blog post.
Strangis and Melngailis both took plea deals and spent time behind bars in the infamous Rikers Island prison system in New York. Strangis spent more time, with over a year before being released with five years of probation by a judge in 2017.
IS LEON STILL ALIVE? Leon is still alive and well and he actually just celebrated his 12th birthday. Leon even has his own Instagram account: @oneluckyrescuedog.
In 2016, the then 43-year-old, on the run for 10 months, was arrested at a hotel in eastern Tennessee; pleaded guilty to grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, scheme to defraud and violation of labour law; served a total of four months behind bars; and was sentenced to five years' probation.
Sarma Melngailis (born September 10, 1972) is an American chef, cookbook author, and businesswoman. She was the owner and co-founder of Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck, both vegan raw food restaurants in New York City.
In the Bad Vegan documentary, we find out that Sarma didn't pay the Pure Food and Wine employees for five months, leaving them with $40,000 of back pay. But luckily, the former restaurant workers have now gotten paid.
Bag Vegan's Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis have put their past behind them and are trying to live a new life. Sarma Melngailis currently lives in New York and runs a blog, while Anthony Strangis is working a legit job though his location is unknown.
Anthony Strangis (@anthony_strangis) • Instagram photos and videos.
In 2011, Melngailis met and quickly married Anthony Strangis, who introduced himself as Shane Fox. Strangis convinced Melngailis that she and her beloved pit bull Leon could live forever if she passed a series of tests, which mostly involved giving him large sums of money, with no questions asked.
Is Sarma still married? Melngailis and Strangis are not together.