Bad Vegan: Sarma Melngailis Breaks Silence on Fraud, Prison & Netflix Scandal

Locked In with Ian Bick

Ian Bick

Society & Culture

4.8 • 745 Ratings

🗓️ 25 August 2025

⏱️ 147 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Sarma Melngailis seemed destined for success. A brilliant student who started her career in finance, she later pursued her passion for food and co-founded Pure Food and Wine, one of New York City’s hottest vegan restaurants that attracted stars like Alec Baldwin. But Sarma’s life took a shocking turn when she fell under the influence of a controlling con man who manipulated her into a web of lies, fraud, and destruction. Once the celebrated “vegan queen” of NYC, she became a fugitive, was arrested for fraud, and ended up behind bars at Rikers Island. Sarma’s story of love, betrayal, and downfall captivated the world and was chronicled in Netflix’s hit documentary Bad Vegan. In this episode, she opens up about her childhood, career, and what really happened behind the scenes of one of the most infamous scandals in the restaurant world. #BadVegan #SarmaMelngailis #TrueCrime #PrisonStories #NetflixDocumentary #RestaurantScandal #LockedInPodcast #Fraud Connect with Sarma Melngailis: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarmamelngailis Buy her book: https://amzn.to/45x4Awo Hosted, Executive Produced & Edited By Ian Bick: https://www.instagram.com/ian_bick/?hl=en https://ianbick.com/ Presented by Tyson 2.0 & Wooooo Energy: https://tyson20.com/ https://woooooenergy.com/ Use code LOCKEDIN for 20% OFF Wooooo Energy Buy Merch: http://www.ianbick.com/shop Timestamps: 00:00 Arrest and Introduction 01:56 Sarma’s Background & Pure Food and Wine 10:08 Growing Up, Independence, and Early Influences 20:28 Career in Finance and Transition to Culinary 29:19 Opening Pure Food and Wine 36:46 The Rise of Pure Food and Wine & One Lucky Duck 42:00 Business Philosophy and Brand Growth 48:46 Personal Relationships & Vulnerability 54:46 First Encounters With the Conman 01:01:01 How the Manipulation Began 01:07:07 Financial Spiral and Isolation 01:16:16 Collapse and Confusion 01:25:01 The Arrest, Jail, and Coming to Terms 01:39:00 Prosecution, Sentencing, and Restitution 01:58:02 Reflection and the Future 02:00:33 Lessons Learned & Moving Forward 02:12:23 Ending and Book Discussion Powered by: Just Media House : https://www.justmediahouse.com/ Creative direction, design, assets, support by FWRD: https://www.fwrd.co Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	There was some commotion in the hallway and Leon started barking like crazy.
0:03.3	And so I go to open the door and see what's going on. And I see these officers and a detective. I think the detective showed me a picture of me on his phone, like almost like a wanted sign. And then he explained to me that I was going to be arrested. And he said, it's okay. It's all over now as if I was being rescued. Because I think he knew that that's what was really happening. She had it all, a brilliant student from Boston, a successful career in finance, and later
0:25.1	the visionary behind pure food and wine, the celebrity favorite vegan restaurant that drew stars
0:31.1	like Alec Baldwin in New York City. But Sarma's dream life quickly spiraled into a nightmare
0:36.1	when she fell under the control of a
0:38.1	manipulative con man. What began as a thriving culinary empire turned into scandal, fraud, and
0:44.2	ultimately a shocking arrest that landed her in Rikers Island. Her unbelievable downfall was later
0:50.0	told in the hit Netflix documentary Bad Vegan.
0:58.2	Sarma, welcome to Locked in.
0:58.9	Thank you.
1:02.2	Thanks so much to Nippy and Sarah for connecting us a few months ago.
1:05.5	And then I left for the Mr. Veas video and now we were able to do this.
1:06.6	Yeah, I'm excited.
1:09.4	And it's perfect timing because your book just got published.
1:10.4	My book just dropped.
1:13.9	And yeah, I brought, this is actually a copy for you.
1:14.6	Awesome.
1:16.0	With stickers, so.
1:18.8	The girl with the duck tattoo.
1:30.3	Yeah, sort of a play on the girl with the dragon tattoo, which is a, you know, very, is a novel but has some similar vibes. I actually just read it during the Mr. Beast video. Oh, really? Yeah, and then I saw the movie and the movie just didn't live up to the
1:34.3	book. But the book was really good. Yeah, it was really good. But your cover looks really great too.
1:39.0	Oh, thank you. Yeah, I'm like a book person. I love, I have so many books in my apartment.
	...

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