New shock documentary on Netflix, Bad Vegan looks back on the crazy story of the couple of scammers, Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis. What have they become since the facts?
After The Tinder Scammer, Bad Vegan: Scam on the menu is the new unmissable documentary on Netflix. Tracing the incredible true story of Sarma Melngailis, a restaurateur specializing in vegan cuisine, and the frauds for which she was convicted with Shane Fox / Anthony Strangis, her former companion who exercised a certain influence, according to the statements of the person concerned .
Through the four episodes of this mind-blowing documentary series by Chris Smith, to whom we already owed Jim and Andy, Tiger King: In the kingdom of the beasts and FYRE: the best festival that never took place, Bad Vegan tells the story of the Sarma Melngailis’ mad rise in high-end catering and fall in the industry after meeting and marrying Shane Fox/Anthony Strangis, who lied about his identity and background.
Bad Vegan on Netflix: after The Scammer of Tinder, you will hallucinate with this new documentary
Despite the threats and influence of Shane Fox / Anthony Strangis, who extracted a lot of money from him, Sarma Melngailis ends up following him and the two terrible lovers become wanted fugitives after having embezzled the funds of his restaurant (approximately 2 million dollars). They will be discontinued in 2016.
What happened to Sarma Melngailis and Shane Fox / Anthony Strangis?
After the arrest, Sarma and his lawyers based their defense on Shane/Anthony’s alleged coercive control over the young woman. However, she pleaded guilty the following year to theft of more than $200,000 from an investor and tax evasion. She received a full four-month prison sentence.
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She has been divorced from Anthony Strangis since 2018 and continues to be active on social media and on her blog. Living in the Harlem neighborhood of New York with her dog Leon, Sarma Melngailis says she is still suffering from the closure of her restaurant and the cessation of her franchise. She is at the heart of the Netflix documentary and continues to claim that she acted fraudulently under the influence of Anthony.
For his part, Anthony Strangis was sentenced to five years in prison but ultimately only spent a year in a penitentiary. Since his release from prison at the end of 2017, the scammer has been very discreet. There is very little information on what has become of Anthony Strangis since the scandal but we know thanks to Bad Vegan that he is still in contact with Sarma Melngailis.
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From the first minutes of the documentary series, the former restaurateur calls him and tells him about this project with Netflix. And his answer reflects the personality of the scammer:
“Fuckin’ Netflix documentary. Jesus Christ. Are you going to cooperate with them? You know two things about me. One, that I love you. And that you love me, or loved me, and you don’t. don’t want to accept it, or that it’s not the time, or whatever. Two, I’m not kidding. No one is messing with me. […] If I get mixed up with these people again, I swear I’ll unleash the flames of hell. […] I don’t want to go through that again, out of the question.”
Anthony Strangis did not want to participate or testify in the Netflix documentary. Since the posting of Bad Vegan: Scam on the menu, he has still not spoken.