For several years, Strangis convinced Melngailis he was working on Black Ops, trying to secure their passage to a utopia, where her beloved dog Leon would live forever. To pass Strangis’ tests, Melngailis transferred almost $2 million from her business accounts to her personal accounts, leading to charges of fraud against them. Both took plea deals and served time in prison.
After watching all four episodes of Bad Vegan, audiences are still perplexed by the documentary’s ending, and Melngailis herself has had something to say about it.
Bad Vegan director Chris Smith and executive producer Ryann Fraser spoke to Newsweek about the ending of Bad Vegan and their hopes that audiences will feel “empathy” with Melgnailis.
What Happened At The End of ‘Bad Vegan’
In the final episode, Melngailis recalls her experience of leaving New York with Strangis and not returning for 10 months.
By the time the pair had left New York in July 2015 Melngailis and Strangis had defrauded 84 workers of up to $3,500 each. Her staff had walked out twice over their unpaid wages, leading to the closure of Pure Food and Wine and its sister restaurant One Lucky Duck. Her investors had also become suspicious and raised the alarm.
According to an indictment, in addition to fugitive from justice warrants for the pair, Strangis was wanted for grand larceny, scheme to defraud and violation of labor law. Melngailis was wanted for grand larceny, criminal tax fraud, scheme to defraud and violation of labor law, reported CBS.
The end of Bad Vegan reveals Melngailis and Strangis were accused of grand larceny after stealing US$844,000 from four investors, failing to pay US$400,000 in taxes and shortchanging their employees by US$40,000 in wages.
For 10 months, Strangis and Melngailis hopped from hotel to hotel, barely going outside. She unofficially changed her name and hid the symbol of her Lucky Duck restaurant on her arm, as seen in mobile phone footage in Bad Vegan, to avoid being caught.
Eventually, Strangis and Melngailis were arrested in May 2016 in Sevierville, Tennessee after Strangis ordered a Domino’s pizza in his own name.
Instead of facing trial, Melngailis and Strangis both took plea deals. She pleaded guilty in May 2017 to stealing more than $200,000 from an investor and scheming to defraud, as well as criminal tax fraud charges. Strangis pleaded guilty to four counts of grand larceny in the fourth degree.
In total, Melngailis served four months in prison and Strangis, one year.
Speaking to Newsweek via email, director Chris Smith and executive producer Ryann Fraser reflected: “One thing we feel certain about is we don’t think Sarma would’ve ended up in a situation to commit fraud on her own, she loved that restaurant.
“Ultimately, when you look at the stories from Fyre to Bad Vegan, you hope that audiences are able to take away something where they’re maybe a little more questioning or cautious in their own lives and can avoid dangerous situations.
“Looking at some of the reactions from viewers online, we’re not sure everyone has sympathy for Sarma because they feel there is some avoidance in answering certain questions, but in the cell phone footage featured in the series from the 10 months Sarma was on the road—it’s clear that this was an upsetting experience, so we’d hope that people could have some empathy for what she went through.
“And obviously we think it’s important to have sympathy for the employees who were affected, many of them relied on their paychecks and also felt that the restaurant staff was their family so to have it all end the way that it did was very jarring.”
Since the release of Bad Vegan, Melngailis has taken issue with some aspects of the documentary, in particular the ending.
She praised the series in an online blog post for showing how “close” she was with employees and that “intentionally harming them is just about the last thing I’d have done.” However, Melngailis also stated the series was “disturbingly misleading” at points.
Moments before the final credits roll in Bad Vegan, a phone call between Strangis and Melngailis plays out, recorded 22 months after Melngailis was released from prison.
In the call, Strangis told Melngailis he stilled loved her and she even referred to his “meat suit” and Strangis appearing on a unicorn.
Writing in her blog, Melngailis said: “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.
“There’s a lot Bad Vegan gets right, but it’s hard not to get stuck on the things that aren’t right or leave an inaccurate impression. Later, I’d like to clear up more.”
Responding to Melngailis’ post, Smith and Fraser said they opted to include the phone call at the end of the documentary as it portrayed Melngailis as “confident and strong,” adding it was never to imply that Melngailis and Strangis were still in contact.
They said: “The inclusion of the last phone call isn’t to imply that Sarma and Anthony were still close. The call is dated ‘22 Months After Prison’—and Anthony clearly says at the end of the call—‘it was nice to hear your voice’—which we feel shows that communication between them is not common.
“In this call, we found Sarma to be confident and strong—making fun of the tales Anthony had spun, telling him that he had to show up on a unicorn for there to be any reconciliation (meaning there is no reconciliation). Lastly—this call was one of the few pieces of audio we found of them communicating in a way that helped us understand their relationship in the first place.”
Today, Melngailis lives outside New York with her dog, Leon. She is also working on her memoir and in February, teased that she was recording a podcast on her Instagram page.
As for Strangis, very little is known about him today.
In a statement to E! News, Strangis’ lawyer, Sam Karliner, said Strangis had put all of the controversies of his past actions behind him.
Karliner said: “He’s gone on to live his life. He’s got a job, uses his name, this is behind him and she’s [Melngailis] behind him.”
He also confirmed Melngailis and Strangis are not in touch and he did not take part in the documentary simply because he “didn’t want to be involved.”
Karliner continued: “He pled guilty to it, he owned up to it and he did it long before Sarma did. His case was resolved probably close to a year before Sarma’s was.”
“Anthony is remorseful for the people at the restaurant that lost money and he took full responsibility for his part in that.”
Bad Vegan: Fame. Fraud. Fugitives is streaming on Netflix now.
