New York's hipster vegan queen jailed for $1m investor swindle
The woman who took the New York vegan restaurant scene by storm has been jailed for three months for stealing more than $1m from investors and staff at her Manhattan restaurants.
Sarma Melngailis appeared at the Brooklyn Supreme Court on Wednesday charged with a series of offences including withholding $40,000 in wages from her staff, stealing $840,000 from investors and siphoning $1.6million from her business accounts.
The 44-year-old became a sensation in the foodie world after opening two Manhattan eateries, Lucky Duck and Pure Food & Wine.
In court, Melngailis and her estranged husband Anthony Strangis pleaded guilty to the scam.
Melngailis has been sentenced to a three and a half month prison stay at Rikers Island, while Strangis has already served one year in jail.
She has also been instructed to pay $1.5million in restitution.
Melngailis had been a queen of the New York restaurant scene with book deals and famous customers, but friends say it all went downhill when she met Strangis in 2007.
Together the pair spent more than $2million at casinos, bought expensive watches and holidays, and an incredible $10,000 on Uber transport.
After transferring $1.6million into her personal account, Melngailis and Strangis were arrested in Tennessee in 2015.
Melngailis has remained active on her social media accounts, seemingly taking a light approach to her three-month sentence.
On her Instagram account she describes herself as: "DogMom. Author of cookbooks. In mourning over @purefoodandwine + @oneluckyduck. In jail this summer. It's a long story."
