Sarma Melngailis

The founder of Manhattan clean-eating hot spot Pure Food and Wine was a tabloid fixture in 2016 after she defrauded investors, stiffed staffers, and went on ...

She and Strangis each pleaded guilty—Melngailis to grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and a scheme to defraud, and Strangis to four counts of fourth-degree grand larceny—and were sentenced to jail time and restitution. The series, which mostly covers events between 2011 and 2016, features a recorded phone call between Melngailis and Strangis in which he refers to “that Vanity Fair cocksucker.” Since then, Melngailis has not exactly put her life back together. In the years since the article, I have stayed in touch with Melngailis and other players in the saga. Melngailis and I both participated in the show, Bad Vegan, and when we spoke I found that it had torn thin scabs off many of her emotional wounds. When I first wrote about Melngailis for Vanity Fair in November 2016, the broadsheets had dubbed her “the runaway vegan,” reveling in the fall of a restaurateur who counted Owen Wilson, Bill Clinton, and Anne Hathaway as customers. Once Melngailis and Strangis were taken back to New York, they were charged with a series of felonies.

Sarma Melngailis gave an update in a recent blog post about the Netflix documentary Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.

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. 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. Melngailis ultimately pleaded guilty to criminal tax fraud, grand larceny, and premeditated fraud, and she served four months at Rikers Island in the summer of 2017.

Sarma Melngailis, known as the "vegan Bernie Madoff," weighs in on the new Netflix show about her downfall, "Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives."

She argues that other parts of her story have been inaccurate, saying, “I didn’t ‘flee’ in 2015 … nor was I “on the lam,” at least not to my knowledge. She added: “There was no actual gun to my head so it will be said that of course I had a choice. The good people who’d worked at the business back then were right to be devastated and angry. It was as if I’d abandoned them, which in effect I did.” I’m not stupid and I’m not crazy. Melngailis and Stangis disappeared after she repeatedly failed to make payroll in 2014 and 2015.