Sarma Melngailis - Part 1: Bad Vegan, Meeting Mr. Fox, and Early Red Flags

Trust Me: Cults, Extreme Belief, and Manipulation

Exactly Right and iHeartPodcasts

True Crime, Talk Radio, Comedy, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.9K Ratings

🗓️ 22 October 2025

⏱️ 65 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

In part 1 with guest Sarma Melngailis, subject of the docuseries Bad Vegan and author of The Girl with the Duck Tattoo, Sarma shares about her life as the owner of a successful vegan restaurant in New York, how she met the man who called himself Mr. Fox on Twitter when he seemed to know her friend Alec Baldwin, her first impressions of Mr. Fox, and some of the initial red flags she missed.
They discuss the way he slowly wormed his way into her life, how he first started asking for money in a way that seemed innocuous at first, and some of the many manipulation tactics he used to coerce her into transferring an astronomical amount of money to him--and ultimately blowing up her life.

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The Girl With the Duck Tattoo

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Transcript

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0:41.3	The Girlfriends is back with a new season, and this time I'm telling you the story of Kelly Harnett.
0:47.1	Kelly spent over a decade in prison for a murder she says she didn't commit. As she fought for her freedom, she taught herself the law.
0:54.9	He goes, oh God, her in that jailhouse lawyer.
0:58.0	And became a beacon of hope for the women locked up alongside her.
1:02.0	You're supposed to have been faith in God, but I had nothing but faith in her.
1:05.0	I think I was put here to save souls by getting people out of prison.
1:09.8	The Girlfriends, Jailhouse Lawyer.
1:12.4	Listen on the IHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts.
1:19.9	Trust me.
1:21.2	Do you trust me?
1:23.0	Would I ever lead you astray?
1:24.5	Trust me.
	...

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