Who are Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis? After "misleading" Bad Vegan couple's relationship to be explored in Peacock's Pure

Peacock's Pure, currently in the works, will be a one-hour drama following the rise and fall of the love story of Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis. A tragic and convoluted love affair that was doomed right from the beginning, the relationship never stood a chance in the real world.

Written by Heather Regnier and presented by Weimaraner Republic Pictures and Warner Bros. Television, Pure is currently in development at Peacock. It is based on Allen Salkin's Vanity Fair story, The Runaway Vegan. Melngailis' premium New York City raw food restaurant, Pure Food and Wine, is most likely the inspiration for the series title.

Melngailis' story was featured in the Netflix original series Bad Vegan: Fame, Fraud, and Fugitives, which premiered earlier this year. Melngailis stated that she was no longer in contact with Strangis after the show aired, a fact which was severely misrepresented at the end of the Netflix production. She wrote in a March 16 blog post,

“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. As anyone who’s been through anything sh*tty knows, having your experience help others lessens the sh**tiness.”

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All about Sarma Melngailis and Anthony Strangis

Sarma Melngailis, well-known for her business and cooking skills, worked in a variety of restaurants and published several cookbooks before becoming interested in the raw food movement and veganism.

Pure Food and Wine was founded by her in 2004, in collaboration with her partner, chef Matthew Kenney. According to Vanity Fair, the restaurant immediately attracted celebrities such as Anne Hathaway and Rooney Mara, and it had an annual income of around $7 million. Kenney left Pure Food and Wine after he solit from Melngailis.

Sarma began talking to Anthony Strangis, a stranger with a criminal background who went by the nickname Shane Fox, on Twitter in 2011 and they met in November that year. Strangis promised to help Melngailis' eatery become self-sufficient and free of messy investors, but the funds never arrived. They split up when she terminated a pregnancy, but got married in December 2012.

Strangis alleged that he had a secretive brother who worked in surveillance and was worried that the couple was being pursued by an unknown organization soon after their marriage. He requested Sarma's email, phone, and bank account details, and refused to take no for an answer.

Strangis explained that the money he was borrowing was part of a series of "cosmic endurance tests," with enormous rewards. Sarma Melngailis handed Strangis a total of $1.2 million.

Melngailis and Strangis fled after Pure Food and Wine closed in July 2015. They were arrested on May 10, 2016, after hiding out in a Tennessee hotel for 40 days. Strangis ordered a Domino's pizza using his true identity, which led to their arrest.

According to CBS News, Melngailis and Strangis were accused of stealing $844,000 from four investors, failing to pay $400,000 in taxes, and "shortchanging employees" $40,000 in paychecks and spending the money on luxury items.

Sarma Melngailis pleaded guilty in 2017 and was sentenced to four months on Rikers Island. Anthony Strangis was sentenced to a year in prison and was given a five-year probationary period that will end in May 2022.

Sarma Melngailis filed for divorce from Anthony Strangis in May 2018, and it appears that they are no longer in contact.