The True Story Behind Netflix's New Docuseries Bad Vegan (2024)

Get ready to feast your eyes.

From the producers of Tiger King and Chris Smith, who directed Fyre: The Greatest Party That Never Happened, Netflix's latest documentary, Bad Vegan, is bound to satisfy the appetite of true crime cravers come its premiere on March 16.

The docuseries chronicles the true story of a former vegan restauranteur who stole thousands of dollars from her staff, allegedly ate cheese, and was promised the immortality of her dog.

The show revolves around Sarma Melngailis, who opened her New York City health haunt, Pure Food and Wine, in 2005. Attracting A-listers ranging from Bill Clinton to Alec Baldwin, the restaurant — deemed the first upscale vegan experience — spiraled as quickly as it rose to success.

Charged with accounts of grand larceny and fraud, the infamous blonde bluff didn't do it alone. In fact, it was her involvement with Anthony Strangis (her now estranged husband) that stirred up a recipe for disaster.

Keep scrolling for the true story behind Netflix's Bad Vegan.

Who is Sarma Melngailis?

Melngailis is the former owner of and co-founder of the vegan restaurant Pure Food and Wine in New York City, which opened in June 2004. Recognized as Manhattan's first upscale, raw-food joint (with nothing cooked above 120 degrees Fahrenheit), it drew in a stream of health-conscious celebrities consisting of Owen Wilson, Bill Clinton, Tom Brady, and Alec Baldwin.

The chef and restaurateur became the face of the vegan fine-dining movement, gained acclaimed notoriety, and transformed into an overnight celebrity in the N.Y.C. foodscape — but just as quickly as she climbed the food chain, she plummeted twice as fast.

Who is Anthony Strangis?

Anthony Strangis is Melngailis' ex-husband who assisted in her many schemes. Growing up, Strangis lived with his parents in Brockton, Massachusetts. His parents eventually split sometime in 1984, with Strangis living with his dad after his mother failed to secure full custody rights.

Never graduating from college, Strangis moved to Sarasota, Florida in 2004 and lived with his father in a trailer park. There, he met a young mother named Stacy Avery whom he eventually married a few months later. She alleges that after she became pregnant, Strangis pawned her jewelry and electronics before leaving for good, leaving her to fall behind on her mortgage. (Strangis' attorney denies his ex-wife's claims.)

Strangis first connected with Melngailis on Twitter, but it wasn't until November 2011 that the two met face-to-face. Per Vanity Fair, they tied the knot the following year, with a city of New York marriage license issued on Dec. 5, 2012. Though it's not exactly clear how they were introduced to each other, various sources shared their ideas with Vanity Fair in 2016 — the same year they both were arrested.

"I don't know how she got mixed up with [Strangis]," Strangis's stepmother told the outlet. "A woman like her — what did she see in [Strangis]?" Meanwhile, the documentary's trailer suggests that blackmail was involved.

When Strangis and Melngailis started talking, he told her that she had to perform a series of tests — in addition to promising that he could make her and her beloved dog, Leon, immortal. The two worked together on her lucrative business.

"I would have access to unlimited resources so that I could grow my brand all over the world, make the documentary I always wanted to make — the one that would finally change people's ways and help eradicate factory farming," Melngailis told the outlet of the promises. "Basically, I could do all the world-changing things I'd been quietly dreaming about. I could help whoever I want, and stay young forever doing it."

What crimes did Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis commit?

Reportedly, after Melngailis and Strangis started dating, the operations manager of Pure Food and Wine was fired and replaced with a younger employer who was put in charge of accounting, despite having no previous experience. The money from Melngailis' business started going directly into Strangis' pocket. He threatened that if she stopped, she'd lose everything.

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.

Additionally, Strangis allegedly promised to give her enough money to "become independent of meddling investors, help anyone she wanted, and pay off her debts [including more than $1 million to the original backer of Pure Food and Wine]," a source told the outlet (although Strangis's attorney denied those promises were made).

In 2015, Melngailis completely disappeared from the scene as she was wanted for fraud and violation of labor laws. Her staff, vendors, and landlords unionized and walked out after the couple's stealing led to unpaid wages.

Did Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis go to jail?

Ironically, junk food led the police to the fugitives. Melngailis and Strangis were arrested on fugitive-from-justice warrants after ordering Dominos Pizza and a side of chicken wings — the act that revealed their location. (Allegedly, vegan Melngailis had been subsisting on vegan bowls from Chipotle.)

Melngailis was found in his Tennessee hotel after hiding there for 40 days and 40 nights on May 10, 2016. The pair was charged with second-degree grand larceny, second-degree criminal tax fraud, first-degree scheme to defraud, violation of labor and other crimes in a 24-count indictment, facing up to 15 years in prison if convicted of the top charge.

Shortly after their arrest, Melngailis accepted a plea deal in Brooklyn Supreme Court (dodging her three-year prison sentence). "She received a split six-month sentence and will serve four months in jail plus five years' probation for grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and a scheme to defraud," reported Forbes.

"Strangis pleaded guilty to four counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree," the outlet reported. "He was sentenced to one year in jail and five years of probation. He must also pay $840,000 in restitution to investors he was charged with swindling."

Where are Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis now?

After spending four months in NYC's Rikers Island jail during summer 2017, Melngailis filed for divorce from Strangis in May 2018. Since her former company website (that she also used as her personal blog) was shut down, she launched a personal website, Sarma Raw, where she shares her story.

In addition to admitting that she ate chicken in prison, she revealed in a 2019 interview with the New York Post that if she could, she'd reopen her vegan joint. "If there was some magical opportunity to open the same restaurant in the same place, I would do it in a heartbeat," she said. "I think New York would take me back."

She's active on social media including Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter, which she links to directly on her site.

Meanwhile, Strangis was sentenced to one to three years in prison but was released from Rikers after a year and three days. "The sentence imposed is harsh enough, he did over a year," said Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Danny Chun.

Since his release in May 2017, he was ordered to serve five years of probation and pay back the funds to all the investors, per Vanity Fair. Spring 2022 will mark five years.