“Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives.” has been trending since it started streaming on Netflix.
Everyone’s talking about the 4-part docu-series and it’s understandable given the gravitation towards real-life based scammer offerings like, “Tinder Swindler” and “Inventing Anna”.
What can I say, truth really is stranger than fiction and it makes for a compelling watch.
Of course, my curiosity was hard to suppress and I started watching the show to find out what all the fuss was about with Sarma Melngailis, who, at one point, was celebrated as the face of the vegan food trend in New York City’s vibrant food scene.
The series has her, looking all virtuous in a white sporty dress, unpacking the events that led to her meeting Shane Fox, a witty online acquaintance of Alec Baldwin.
But let’s start with some background.
Melngailis is an alumnus of the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School. The blonde beauty graduated with a B.S. in economics in 1994 and went on to obtain her B.A.
But while she was great with numbers, her creativity leaned more towards food and she made a career pivot by enrolling in New York's French Culinary Institute. She graduated in 1999.
Up until she crossed paths with Fox, who was later revealed to be Anthony Strangis, she could be described as having a good head on her shoulders. She was the full package of beauty and brains.
She ran Pure Food and Wine with her then beau Matthew Kenney. The restaurant was located in Manhattan's Gramercy Park neighbourhood, and it was the talk of the town, frequented by many celebrities, including Baldwin.
He had a crush on Melngailis who positioned herself well as a social butterfly and promoted the restaurant as an influencer on social media - long before it was even considered a real thing.
She really was a sort of darling of the food scene. She had people who trusted her. Believed in her. Supported her.
But after she parted ways with her co-partner, those pangs of being single grew worse even after she got Leon, her fur baby.
In an ironic twist of fate, she befriended Fox/Strangis after spotting his posts on Baldwin’s social media page.
Since the actor met his wife at her restaurant, which she bought (translated accrued debt) from business tycoon and restaurateur Jeffrey Chodorow, she felt it was fate that brought her love through the actor.
And that was the start of her downward spiral into infamy. She was drawn to Strangis. He had a very flashy lifestyle. Like most swindlers, he sold her an implausible narrative of being a Black Ops agent, which explained his frequent absences.
He also had a guy who held onto those puppet strings, convincing Melngailis that he was the real deal whenever he asked for money.
Her staff at Pure Food and Wine were wary of Anthony. They didn’t like him, neither did the homeless guy who befriended Melngailis.
But she was blinded to all the red flags and ended up tying the knot with Strangis. And even when her business was growing and she expanded with One Lucky Duck, all the profits were being siphoned into his account.
He was bleeding her dry and damaging her reputation but she kept trusting him.
In the phone recordings played between the two, it is evident that Strangis was not only gaslighting her, but he was also downright abusive.
He swore at her all the time. He preyed on her vulnerability. He kept convincing her to trust his vision and that she would get back so much more than she gave.
Whenever she wired funds to him, she would have to inform him in code speak.
He had her convinced that if she didn’t do as he said, bad things would start to happen.
In one of their conversations, he said: “If I tell you to take all your money out of the bank and light it on fire, do it.”
He also referenced a famous “Indiana Jones” scene to convince her to take a leap of faith with him.
And this is where I have a problem with this docu-series. Melngailis is allowed to tell her victimised side of the story.
At no point does the interviewer ask those probing questions on why she empowered Anthony to the point where he monitored her email, meddled with her staff and business, convinced her to join him in some of his swindles and isolated her by sending her globe-trotting to different places.
There were times in the interview when she said, “What could I do?”
She gave off her damsel in distress vibe and refused to acknowledge her complicity in leaving her staff without pay, in betraying her investors and those close to her, in having her own mother conned out of 400 thousand dollars.
There’s no point in playing the victim when you went along with everything he did.
Even after they were arrested, she was playful and almost loving towards him.
All those repulsive feelings she alleges to have had towards him, especially when it came to intimacy, was absent during their interaction.
And this is why I don’t have sympathy for Melngailis. She serves more excuses than anything else and that just left a sour taste in my mouth.
You don’t hand the keys to your kingdom and then get to cry foul. Own your mistakes.