Sarma Melngailis was the Queen of vegan cuisine. Until she became a fugitive. It's been six years since Sarma Melngailis, a New York-based restaurateur, was arrested along with her then-husband Anthony Strangis, after being declared “fugitives-from-justice”.
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.
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.
In 2017, Melngailis took a plea deal and plead guilty to larceny, tax fraud, and conspiring to defraud. As part of the deal, she served four months in prison later that year. As for Strangis, the scammer pled guilty to four counts of grand larceny and was sentenced to one year in jail and five years probation.
Although there is not much known about his current whereabouts, it is known that he is already out of prison and serving the remainder of his probation sentence as a private citizen. According to his lawyer, Karliner, Strangis has a new job, uses his name, and he has moved forward.
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.
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.
Sheila O'Leary, 38, whose family followed a strict vegan diet, was convicted in June on six charges — first-degree murder, aggravated child abuse, aggravated manslaughter, child abuse and two counts of child neglect — in the death of Ezra O'Leary.
Leon was taken in and looked after by Sarma's father John during her four months in prison, with Sarma and Leon reunited following her release. Bad Vegan is streaming now on Netflix.
Though Sarma Melngailis, the vegan behind the once raw, vegan fine dining powerhouse Pure Food and Wine, was drawn into an alternate reality based on the stories of Anthony Strangis, her boyfriend turned husband, her life didn't exactly become less complicated after she left Riker's Island.
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.
Nazim Seliakhov
He currently resides in New York City and has leaned into his entrepreneurial side, being the founder of a pharmaceutical-grade Industrial Hemp Processing Laboratory. Seliakhov remains private online, with his only public social media profile being his LinkedIn.
Anthony Strangis was sentenced to a year in prison and was given a five-year probationary period that will end in May 2022. Sarma Melngailis filed for divorce from Anthony Strangis in May 2018, and it appears that they are no longer in contact.
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.
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.
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.
With a pounding heart and rapid breath, Laika rode a rocket into Earth orbit, 2,000 miles above Moscow streets she knew. Overheated, cramped, frightened, and probably hungry, the space dog gave her life for her country, involuntarily fulfilling a canine suicide mission.
Yes! Leon the pitbull is still alive and well. Netflix TUDUM confirms that the adorable pup (the de facto breakout star of Bad Vegan) is thriving and still very much a part of Melngailis' life.
According to Digital Spy, at the time of Sarma's arrest, a man named Dustin was taking care of Leon. The site reports that the restaurateur had befriended Dustin at a local Chipotle restaurant. Sarma's father, John, eventually took over the responsibility while his daughter was in jail.
Holly, a 34-year-old GP, her sister Wanda and brother Jasper were all raised vegan from birth and have been vegan all their lives. Between them, they have three vegan children. Holly says that when she and her siblings were younger, being vegan was unusual, but not challenging.
In 1806, at the age of 41, Dr. William Lambe adopted an exclusively plant-based diet as a result of health problems. At the time, it was common for people following a “vegetable diet” to consume dairy products, but Dr. Lambe rejected these products as well, making him one of the first “vegans” as we know it today.
One of the earliest followers of what we now consider a vegan diet was Arab philosopher and poet Al-Maʿarri who abstained from animal products for his health and beliefs on the transmigration of souls and animal welfare.
Sarma is the author of two books.
Sarma wrote two books: Raw Food Real World and Living Raw Food.
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.
According to outlets, she has a net worth of US$1.5 million dollars when she went to prison. It is known that she owed investors, employees and others to the tune of US$6 million dollars.