Melngailis alleged that Strangis used coercive control and manipulated her to get her to steal money, while Strangis said that the Bad Vegan was the mastermind. He spent a year in prison before he was released with five years probation, with his attorney telling The New York Postin 2017, “He’s satisfied, especially now that it has come to light that she played an equal and culpable role in this. She was a savvy businesswoman who came up with a plan and he helped her execute it. She knew exactly what she was doing and so did he and for that, they are being appropriately punished.” Where is Sarma Melngailis’ ex-husband Anthony Strangis now? Find out what the meat-eating man who ruined Melngailis’ name is up to these days.
Who is Anthony from Bad Vegan?
The true Anthony Strangis is a mystery—beyond his penchant for aliases, fraud, crime and non-vegan cuisine. According to Vanity Fair, Strangis’ father was abusive and a gambler; Strangis split his time between his divorced parents as a child. In 2004, after leaving college without graduating, Strangis lived with his father in a Sarasota, Fla., trailer park. He met a woman named Stacy at a local gym and quickly got her pregnant. Stacy told The New York Postof her ex, “When I met him, he said he was a retired Navy SEAL and [had been] shot in the line of action in the chest. I would always see what I thought were bandages [on] his chest. Come to find out, he was just taping his man boobs down. He’s a sociopath. I feel bad for [Melngailis].” She told Vanity Fair that he inherited $5 million from a deceased aunt that never materialized. He left her and their son—who she says he never visited nor paid a cent to support—in 2005. It’s unclear what he did in the years immediately following his abandonment of his young family, but in 2011, he lived in a van with his father near New Bedford, Mass.; his father was found dead in the same van in 2012 at age 72.
How did Sarma Melngailis meet Anthony Strangis?
Strangis met Melngailis through mutual Twitter pal Alec Baldwin when Strangis went by the alias Shane Fox. The pair first met in person in November 2011, according to Vanity Fair. By January 2012, they were having unprotected sex and he got Melngailis pregnant; Melngailis got an abortion. (Strangis, through his attorney, denied the allegations.) He reportedly began making monetary promises to her that April, though his attorney denied this. In addition to promises of making her dog Leon immortal, Melngailis says that Strangis told her he was doing black ops for the government and literally promised her the world. “He convinced me I’d be empowered in ways I couldn’t imagine,” she told Vanity Fair. “I would have access to unlimited resources so that I could grow my brand all over the world, make the documentary I always wanted to make—the one that would finally change people’s ways and help eradicate factory farming. Basically, I could do all the world-changing things I’d been quietly dreaming about. I could help whoever I want, and stay young forever doing it.”
When did Sarma Melngailis get married?
Melngailis and Strangis married in secret in early December 2012. Melngailis told Vanity Fair of the marriage, “He told me if I was his wife I’d be more protected. It was vague.” Melngailis alleged that throughout their relationship and marriage that Strangis claimed if she passed several tests, including ones involving paying him massive sums of money, he could make her rescue pit bull, Leon, live forever. He allegedly also told her that he had an evil brother, comparing their relationship to that of Marvel’s Thor and Loki, and that his brother had surveillance technology and violent tendencies. He told her that his tech specialist, “Will,” needed her passwords for everything from her email to her online banking, which she readily supplied to him. Strangis’ attorney denied her claims.
When did Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis start stealing from Pure Food and Wine?
Strangis began to get involved in the inner dealings of Pure Food and Wine in 2013, sources told Vanity Fair. An investigation found that the pair began transferring money from the business to Melngailis’ personal account beginning around January 2014, to the tune of $1.6 million by January 2015. The pair spent a good $1.2 million at casinos in Connecticut alone, with more high-roller expenses including $80,000 in designer watches; $10,000 in Uber rides (those surge prices!); and $70,000 in hotels all around Europe and the Big Apple (even though they lived in New York City). In 2014, Melngailis failed to pay her employees for a whopping five months worth of work. An indictment estimated she and Strangis defrauded her employees a whopping $40,000, and Pure Food and Wine shuttered forever in July 2015. After Strangis ordered a decidedly un-vegan Domino’s pizza and chicken wings to a Tennessee hotel room, they were arrested. Melngailis pleaded guilty to grand larceny, criminal tax fraud and scheme to defraud; Strangis was found guilty of grand larceny in the fourth degree. In addition to their prison sentences, $6 million financial collateral damage, and ruined reputations, Melngailis lamented another major loss stemming from her and Strangis’ crimes. “Imagine suddenly realizing, ‘My dog isn’t going to live forever, I’m not eternally safe, all my dreams and visions that he promised me he’d make happen are not happening, and this colossal mess isn’t all just going to be undone, like he always said it would be,’” she bemoaned to Vanity Fair. “It’s like waking up into a nightmare.”
Is Sarma still married?
Melngailis and Strangis are not together. She filed for divorce in May 2018 after being released from prison—but according to police, their problems started before they were apprehended. “She’s not fond of him. We could tell that,” Sevierville, Tenn., Detective Kevin Bush told The New York Post. “Right before they were taken to our detention facility I said to [Melngailis], ‘Give [Strangis] a hug. Give him a kiss,’ and she didn’t want to.”
Where is Sarma Melngailis’ ex-husband now?
Strangis was released from prison after a year and sentenced to five years of probation beginning in May 2017—which means he’s wrapping up that period right now. If he doesn’t keep his nose clean, he may serve another five to 15 years behind bars, according to The New York Post. As for what else he’s doing now? That, as well as what name he’s doing everything under, remains anybody’s guess.
Are Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis still together?
Melngailis filed for divorce from Strangis in May 2018 and hasn’t looked back since. She made it clear that she and Strangis are absolutely not together, and alleged that the Netflix documentary botched the truth about their romance almost entirely. “The idea that I would do all of that only to then run away with a man I hated and feared makes no sense. I didn’t want to marry him, and that part of the story was inaccurately condensed,” she wrote on her website after the show was released. “Also, the ending of Bad Vegan is disturbingly misleading; I am not in touch with Anthony Strangis and I made those recordings at a much earlier time, deliberately, for a specific reason.” Next, find out how much of Hulu’s The Dropout, which follows another blond female scammer with an allegedly shady lover, is based on true events.
