It was a story fraught with fraud, betrayal, and pizza(yes pizza) all tied up in a neat vegan wrapper. Sarma Melngailis went from the “Raw Food Queen” to the “vegan Bernie Madoff” seemingly overnight, but where is she now?
Unpaid workers, millions of missing dollars, and a restaurant owner on the run. Sarma Melngailis first made headlines as the “vegan/raw food queen” with her successful Manhattan restaurant, Pure Food And Wine, which sat at the forefront of the raw food movement. Yet within a few short years, she would come to be known as a fugitive, a fraud, and a criminal.
Sarma and her former husband, Anthony Strangis, aka “Shane Fox” embezzled millions from the Pure Food and Wine business and One Lucky Duck franchise. While some of the money went towards trips and clothes, the vast majority went to feed Strangis’ gambling addiction. Sarma lost everything – her business, her reputation, and even her freedom. So what happened to Sarma Melngailis and where is she now?
What happened to Sarma Melngailis?
After being on the run for almost a year, Sarma and her then-husband, Anthony Strangis were discovered by detectives after ordering a pizza from their Pigeon Forge, Tennessee hotel room. They were arrested and Sarma eventually pled guilty to grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, and a scheme to defraud but was sentenced to just four months in prison.
Her story was explored in the Netflix documentary Bad Vegan, in which she claimed Strangis had used cult-like brainwashing techniques to convince her to steal money from the business. Strangis and Melngailis took almost $2 million from the business, but between back taxes, owed employee wages, attorney’s fees, and the money Strangis took from Sarma’s mother, the grand total of damages was over $6 million. Yikes.
Sarma Melngailis’ latest scandal
As bizarre as the tale of Bad Vegan proved to be, Sarma’s story wasn’t exactly over. There was another chapter yet to be revealed, and it was shocking.
In February 2017 Sarma retained the married defense attorney Jeffrey Lichtman but it turned out their relationship went beyond attorney-client. It was revealed the pair had quickly become involved in an illicit romantic relationship. Eight days before returning to court to accept Sarma’s plea deal, it was revealed through text messages that the pair had sealed another deal, an X-rated one. The messages made it clear that their attorney-client relationship had evolved into a full-blown affair.
According to the New York Post, the two exchanged messages about their romantic thoughts about each other during the hearing! “It was crazy. During the plea, I was kind of swooning for you. Just wanted to touch you a little even,” Lichtman wrote. To which Sarma responded ” “I love when you say stuff like that. As it’s often hard to tell behind your surly facade. That’s romantic.”
The legal community felt Lichtamn’s messages and behavior were at minimum unprofessional and at maximum unethical. Although Lichtman has not faced any Bar Association repercussions at this time, his personal life and professional reputation certainly have taken a hit.
Lichtman reported to the Post:
“This is a deeply personal matter that I’m going to try to deal with privately. My life and behavior have not always been perfect — as I think we can all say — but I’m proud of my legal work in this case.”
Where is Sarma Melngailis now?
Melngailis responded that it “hurt a little” to find out her attorney was married and not separated as he had told her (although reportedly post-rendevous.) Otherwise, the former vegan queen appears unphased by the publicity around the affair.
These days she’s subletting her New York apartment and is reportedly living outside of the city, working on her memoir. As per her Instagram, she simply wants to be helping people and animals, and is “longing to get my power back.” She claims she will be back in action in the city sometime soon, and still harbors hope of someday re-opening Pure Food and Wine. She told the Post, “If there was some magical opportunity to open the same restaurant in the same place, I would do it in a heartbeat. I think New York would take me back.”
From fame to fraud, and from profession to private scandals, Sarma Melngailis continues to surprise us. With a new memoir coming out, and a new round of tabloids surrounding her, she keeps us guessing with just what she will do next. Could there be a chance Pure Food and Wine will reopen, or is that just another part of the fantasy land she and Anthony Strangis created? Stay tuned to find out!
