To be honest, I didn’t know much about Sarma Melngallis, who propelled to the top of New York City’s food scene just over ten years ago. Her Pure Food and Wine and One Lucky Duck restaurants served buzzy vegan cuisine, frequented by celebrities. We learn Alec Baldwin was smitten by her as a frequent patron at Pure Food and Wine, and wanted to court her even.
Four-part Netflix Docu-Series BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES. chronicles her downfall after meeting and marrying then-husband Anthony Strangis who would deceive her into giving him large sums of money in hopes of receiving even larger returns back. This drained profits from her successful businesses, placing her in severe debt. What resulted was her workers being unpaid, refusing to work, and then on the guidance of Strangis, swindling potential investors to buy into her brand, eventually leading to them being on-the-run, controlled in a cult-like manner by him. As it turns out, her ex-husband gambled away all the money, all while she stood by as a passive by-stander picking-up his fast food for him. The irony, considering the health food she became known for. Melngallis would face a guilty sentence for fraud, tax evasion and criminal tax fraud, landing her four months in prison.
Director Chris Smith, who brought us Tiger King, once again delivers a very fascinating story, though it perhaps could’ve been told more succinctly. While there aren’t big personalities nor much spectacle, and an admitted lack of Strangis‘ actual involvement, we do find ourselves feeling compassion for Melngallis, who to this day doesn’t even know why she did some of the things she did. We do get a sense of her shame, embarrassment, yet hopefulness through it all and this is her chance to tell her side of the story even when headlines and those victimized by the crimes aren’t forgiving of her. And ultimately, the Series explores the perils of what it means to not be in control of your own life and destiny.
BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES. streams March 16, 2022 on Netflix.
BAD BEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES exposes the bizarre scandal behind famed Vegan Restauranteur Sarma Melngailis and her involvement with Shane Fox.
Synopsis:
From Chris Smith, the executive producer of Tiger King and director of Fyre: The Greatest Party that Never Happened, comes BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES., a wild four-part documentary series that explores how Sarma Melngailis, the celebrity restaurateur behind the glittering New York hotspot Pure Food and Wine, went from being the queen of vegan cuisine to being known as the “Vegan Fugitive.” Shortly after meeting a man named Shane Fox on Twitter in 2011, Melngailis begins draining her restaurant’s funds and funneling the money to Fox after he cons her into believing he could make her dreams — from expanding her food empire to making her beloved pitbull immortal — a reality…but only if she continues to obey his every request without question. A few years later the couple, now married and on the lam after stealing nearly $2 million from the restaurant and its staff, are found holed up in a Tennessee motel by law enforcement. Their undoing? A charge made under Fox’s real name, Anthony Strangis, for a Domino’s pizza. BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES. takes viewers on a journey more bizarre than fiction.
BAD VEGAN: FAME. FRAUD. FUGITIVES arrives on Netflix March 16, 2022.
(Photo/video credit: Netflix)
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