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.
However, they were both charged, pleaded guilty to theft and fraud, and served time together in prison. What did Strangis do with the money? According to a May 2016 indictment, Strangis spent nearly all the cash at Foxwoods Casino in Connecticut and the rest at other casinos.
Sarma and Anthony began stealing from her investors and employees. Sarma transferred more than $1.6 million from her business accounts to her personal bank account, and Anthony spent $1.2 million of that money at Connecticut casinos, Vanity Fair says.
She Paid Her Employees With Netflix Money
However once the docuseries was finalized, Netflix execs decided to pay the balance of Sarma's substantial debt.
Strangis was released from Rikers Island in May 2017. His probation, a sentence of five years, was transferred to Massachusetts, where he went to live with his mother.
Anthony Strangis allegedly put Sarma MeIngailis through "cosmic endurance tests" that drained her bank accounts and ruined the success of her popular vegan restaurants. Vegan restaurant owner Sarma MeIngailis gave millions away to her gambler husband Anthony Strangis.
Strangis, who had a $350,000 bond, could not pay up and stayed in jail for the better part of a year, the documentary explains. By the time Strangis plead guilty and was sentenced, he had already done his time. But he did get five years of probation, according to the New York Post.
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.
A popular haunt among weird celebrities, the restaurant enjoyed a significant amount of financial success in its first years, despite being highly leveraged due to a costly partner buyout. At one point Sarma is bringing in nearly $7m a year in gross revenue.
The biggest revelation is that she was paid for her part in the doc—and that she plans to give her earnings to the employees she swindled. She wrote, “It's standard practice—to say nothing of journalistic integrity—that subjects do not get paid for participation in documentaries, at least not the reputable ones.
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.
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.
He was also made to pay $840,000 in restitution to investors. Melngailis filed for divorce after serving her sentence.
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. “Having Leon around me is extremely grounding,” she told the Netflix website Tudum earlier this year.
According to his bio, he currently lives in Harlem with Melgnailis, who adopted him from Brooklyn's Sean Casey Animal Rescue in 2010.
Netflix's 'Bad Vegan' Is The Bizarrely True Story Of Con Artist Sarma Melngailis.
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.
Putting her life back together. Melngailis ran a profitable restaurant for 11 years, wrote cookbooks (Raw Food Real World and Living Raw Food) and rubbed shoulders with celebrities. But now, she spends most of her time reading, hanging out with her dog, working on a memoir and recording podcasts.
Sarma is the author of two books.
Sarma wrote two books: Raw Food Real World and Living Raw Food.
"There were over 100 employees there and before they lost their jobs, they didn't get paid," former operations manager Jim Switzer said. "And I didn't think that Sarma really showed any empathy for that."
They said: "The inclusion of the last phone call isn't to imply that Sarma and Anthony were still close. The call is dated "22 Months After Prison"—and Anthony clearly says at the end of the call "it was nice to hear your voice"—which we feel shows that communication between them is not common.
This time, the focus is on restaurant owner Sarma Melngailis, often called the “vegan Bernie Madoff,” who went from celebrity restaurateur to fugitive after becoming involved with a man calling himself “Shane Fox.” The story of Melngailis's restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, was baffling at the time, and it remains ...
Melngailis pleaded guilty in May 2017 to stealing more than $2,000,000 from investors, and scheming to defraud, as well as criminal tax fraud charges. She received a jail sentence of nearly four months. She filed for divorce from Strangis in May 2018. The 2022 Netflix documentary series Bad Vegan: Fame.
Strangis was released from prison after a year and sentenced to five years of probation beginning in May 2017—which means he's wrapping up that period right now. If he doesn't keep his nose clean, he may serve another five to 15 years behind bars, according to The New York Post.
"Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives." is a four-part docu-series following the criminal case of Sarma Melngailis, co-founder of celebrity-favorite Pure Food and Wine as well as the "it" girl of New York's early-aughts food scene.