Rotten Mango - #151: “The Bad Vegan” (Case of Sarma Melngailis)

Episode Date: March 30, 2022

Have you heard about how to boil a frog? They say if you throw a frog into a pot of boiling water - it will jump out. But if you throw a frog in a pot of cool water… and you slowly start turning up the heat. Slowly but surely. So slow that it’s just incremental changes in heat. It’s said the frog will sit there, completely unaware of its impending doom, and it will be cooked to death. The frog has been “willingly” cooked alive. Do you think humans are any smarter than frogs? Maybe not. Full Source Notes: rottenmangopodcast.com To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Welcome to this week's main episode of Rotten Mango. I'm your host Stephanie Sue. Have you ever tried boiling a frog? Have you? I mean, a lot of people have said this case is like boiling a frog. Have you heard of that saying? The saying goes like this. You throw a frog into a boiling pot of water. It's going to jump out. It's going to scream, hop away, injured with a very bad taste in its mouth.

But if you throw a frog in a pot, in cool water, and slowly, just incrementally, you turn up the heat, the frog is going to sit there. Unaware of its impending doom. It's gonna be cooked to death. But by then, I mean, it's far too late. It's obviously to be taken as a metaphor. This is not real. I mean modern biologists have debunked this.

I don't know if they actually stuck a frog in water and tried to cook it alive, but they came forward to say, yeah, no, the frog's gonna jump out, guys. Is this American saying, do you guys have the same? I think so Okay, cuz we have the same too. Yeah, I feel like it's the thing that people are taught I mean it seems like it's a lesson that humans don't learn because have you guys ever heard of creeping normality It's the process where something changes so small So incrementally so unnoticably you don't even know something's changed, until it's too late and your life is drastically

different than from what it was before. A scientist named Jared Diamond said, disaster happens not with a bang but with a whimper. We even teach kids this, the concept, the phrases like, if you give them an inch, they'll take a mile, or with children's books, if you give a mouse a cookie. Have you guys read that book? It's about you give a mouse a cookie. Have you guys read that book? It's about you give a mouse a cookie and then suddenly it steals your house and your wife and your kids Something like that. I think I'm misinterpreting it a little bit But it's pretty much the premise of the book. I mean this might be the poster child's case of all of these things

And it's shocking because the people involved are some of the brightest most successful of New York City So with that being said, there is a documentary on Netflix called The Bad Vegan, which you know has been causing quite a bit of stir. So at first it was over the fact that one of the people involved, Sarma, she's like the main character in all of this, she was paid for this. She was paid for the documentary, which typically journalists, producers, documentary makers don't do because the minute you're paid to do something, your story is going gonna be all, you know, wish you washy, you're gonna do it for benefit. Then it was over the fact that, well, she didn't get paid, they were actually, you know,

giving it to the employees, it's a long story, right? We're gonna get into all of that, so technically, she didn't financially benefit, but there was some sort of benefit. Then the controversy was over the fact that, well, they're actually messing with the story and Netflix is super biased and sensationalizing it, but then there's other sources on this as well. So I'm gonna have all of that linked in the show notes, but with that being said, we're just gonna jump in because it gets really crazy. What's the most crazy restaurant scandal that you've ever heard of? I think the one that comes to mind for me is the Wendy's Chilly Finger scandal. Do you know which one I'm talking about? Have you heard of it? It's absolutely wild.

Like it's kind of crazy. So in 2005, a woman named Ayala went to Wendy's, orders a bowl of chili like the soup, right? You got the beans, you got the meat, you got the beef and everything. She starts munching away, just scooping spoonfuls in turn mouth in the Wendy's restaurant. And then she's like, wait a minute. What the hell is that? She gets a closer look right in front of her, almost flicking her off.

And this bowl of chili is a full on severed human finger. For real? For real, a good 1.5 inches of full on finger digits. She's like, oh my God, she stands up in front of the entire restaurant and screams, stop! Everybody stop eating! Which sounds like a movie, right? I mean, it's crazy because I would have just started screaming, but she's like, stop

everyone! She posts on social media, she complains to Wendy's in the whole world is just ready for this case. They're ready for the puns. A popular one that came to be was Wendy's. Takes finger food too seriously. Wendy's putting the finger in finger food. Go to Wendy's if you wanna get fingered.

People were going nuts. I mean, can you imagine if this happened when TikTok was around? I mean, it would be a trend to go to Wendy's order a bowl of chili and see if you're gonna to get a finger with doja cat song just in the background. Like that is literally how it would be. But immediately the police get to work.

I mean, I would imagine their investigation starts with a very easy question, which employee is missing a finger. Show me your hands. None of the employees were missing a finger. I mean, which makes sense in hindsight because losing a finger is a very noticeable thing. It's not a very quiet process. Everyone would know that you just lost a finger. Imagine you're cooking up a bowl of chili, you chop off your finger.

Are you just gonna calmly hide it in your pocket, walk up to your boss and say, Hey, I'm not really feeling great. You mind if I just, I gotta go. I gotta family emergency. No, you're gonna be screaming. So the Santa Clara County Coroner's office also reported that the finger was not cooked. It was not consistent with being cooked in a chili

at 170 degrees for three hours. So that means the finger was thrown in there. After the chili was made. Oh yeah. So then the whole press is going crazy. The nation's going wild. There were rumors that Ayala herself was the one that put the finger in the chili. And you know, they're really trying to point the finger at her. I'm sorry. So they find out

that she had already sued a bunch of retail establishments for random things. Her aunt had recently died. So they're like, Oh, my God, we have to exume her aunt's body? Because is she missing a finger? Did she just chop off her aunt's dead finger? Like, well, you won't be needing this anymore. That's crazy. So they start, you know, looking into all of this, turns out, a y'all did put the finger in the chili. She did have a habit of assuming a lot of different restaurants, El Pollo Loco being one of them. Yes, that was just her thing. Her husband obtained the finger from a coworker

who chopped it off in a work related incident. And he bought it for $100. And the coworker's like, well, they can't put it back on, so. I guess I'll just be $100 richer and gave him the finger. Then they put the finger in the chili. I mean, that's gotta be the dumbest thing you can put in. Exactly, that's what everyone's saying. Like you could have put in dog poop.

You could have put in a rat amount. Something that is not as traceable as a finger. Like you think the police are going to look at this and say, do we really need to find the finger owner? There's finger print. Finger prints. There's DNA. There's there's a simply looking for someone who's missing something. Yeah, it's exactly. So y'all I was thrown into prison, she was sentenced to nine years, but I believe she only served four to five years. Her husband who supplied the finger got 12 years, for felony of attempted grand larceny. Wendy's came out to say that they lost more than $22 million in revenue because of the

scandal. Well, the husband got 12 years? Yeah. She only got four to four or nine years?. Yeah, so I mean, that's a lot I mean, I we've covered cases of murderers and rapists getting like three years. Yeah, well petapot is not No years and she's getting She's getting really fingered by the justice system. I'm just saying, but I will say this though I think that this was just trying to set a message to everybody. Don't be chopping off your fingers and putting it into your Wendy's chili.

There was another huge, we can't forget about the insane Soda scandal. In 2009, a man went after a huge massive Soda corporation. He was suing them because he allegedly found a dead rat in his soda. But the company shut down the allegation by stating that the soda is so acidic it would have dissolved the dead rat before you could even find it. Their legal team said the mouse would have been dissolved in the soda had so acidic, it would have dissolved the dead rat before you could even find it. Their legal team said, the mouse would have been dissolved in the soda had it been in the can

from the time of its bottling until the day the plant had drank it. It would have become a jelly-like substance. Well, that's also alarming to you. Yeah, I mean, it would be like a rubbery substance, but don't worry, soda is nowhere near as acidic as your stomach, so I think you're gonna be okay.

But that's just really a way to fight today. You know, they're like, actually, no. Because the Soda would have like killed the rat and sat poisonous. You're like, okay. I mean, there's a lot of wild stories out there involving restaurants. But this one, this one's probably the weirdest. Have you heard of pure food and wine? It sounds like any other restaurant these days, but back when it first opened, debuted in New York City in the early 2000s,

it was ahead of its time. Revolutionary even. Why? Because it was a completely raw vegan restaurant. This is in 2003. The idea and concept of being a regular vegan was already wild. I mean, everyone would be like, wait, why? You don't need any meat. No, it, that's, how about cheese? Oh, that's an animal. Okay, eggs? Because I brought you the eggs. Oh, you don't need eggs.

Oh my God, what do you eat? Are you like a bunny? Do you just like a munch-up? How do you get your protein? How do you get your protein? Yeah, this was in the early 2000s, where people's minds were blown at just regular Schmeggler vegans.

And I guess at the time, people weren't thinking about beans, rice, potatoes, pasta, tofu bread, and all the other delicious vegan meals that you honestly wouldn't even know were vegan. People just thought it was a wildlife style. But as a raw vegan, you'd take it a step further. You don't consume anything that's been cooked. You know, which is again completely fine, but in 2003, this is, I mean, the idea of a restaurant

where you don't cook food, it's like, then why, why am I going there? If you're not cooking the food for me. Basically, as a raw vegan, you're limited to fruits and vegetables and nuts that can be safely consumed without being thermally processed. The main reason that I could find online is that a lot of raw vegans believe that cooking the vegetables or the food, it destroys the natural enzymes necessary to break down that food. It's kind of the concept of eat what the earth gives you in its purest form.

I mean, there are some ways to quote-unquote process your food as a raw vegan, like dehydrating your food. That's allowed. So essentially, you want to avoid high cooking temperatures at all costs. Regardless, it was a success. Pure food in wine was an instant hit. The owners of this restaurant were a celebrity chef couple. So we had Sarmam.

She was this beautiful golden blonde haired woman. She was so fit. She had this presence about her. She looked like she just wouldn't age. One of those people, you're like, what are you drinking? You're drinking some elixir. You sold your soul to the devil.

There's no way. Why is there not even one wrinkle on you? She had this feminine face and this really cute nose, but these very striking, piercing eyes that looked like they were just completely cooking you as she's looking at you. It was just so intense. And then we had Matthew, the other celebrity chef that looked more like a fitness guru. You had a strong jaw, these sharp features, and I'm going to be honest with you. If either of them told me to do something or eat something, and I look at them, I'll do it. And I'll be like, okay, if it gets me one step closer to looking like you guys.

And to even add to more of this appeal, the owners did a ton of PR. So Sarma and Matthew, they would go and they'd be the face of the restaurant. It felt more like a brand than a single restaurant. They had a ton of celebrity friends and customers and to be fair, their food looked like a regular high-end food restaurant. It didn't look vegan, it didn't look raw, it looks delicious, I'm gonna be honest. But anyways, back to the celebrities. Allegedly Owen Wilson was a diehard fan. He would walk into the restaurant barefoot and just order a raw smoothie. Sometimes he would walk barefoot into the kitchen and just kind

of help them make this smoothie. Jizzlle and her husband, I forget his name. Oh yeah, Tom Brady. Jacelle's husband is what we call him, okay? They would go there. They were familiar with the restaurant. They dined there often. It said that Alec Baldwin and his wife, Ilaria Baldwin, either met at this restaurant

or they went there during their early stages of dating. I mean, so there's, you know, a ton of celebrity buzz. Now, I don't know what's more bizarre. The actual events, or the plot lines and the headlines that came to be. Vegan restaurant owner arrested after Domino's pizza. The vegan Bernie made off. She was a very, very bad vegan.

I'm like, wow, these titles are so sensational. What is she doing? Is she selling meat at her restaurant with nobody knowing? Is that why the food is so good? Is titles are so sensational. What is she doing? Is she selling meat at her restaurant with nobody knowing? Is that why the food is so good? Is she selling, oh god, is she selling human meat? Thankfully no, she wasn't. But the story is definitely a bit stranger, if you can even imagine.

So who are the owners? Let's talk about Sarma. Sarma had this really picturesque life. I feel like she had the type of childhood where if I were in the same class as her, I would be so jealous. I feel like I would wish to have a life like hers. It felt straight out of a movie. So Zarma was originally born in Latvia. But when she was young, her family packed up their bags, they moved to Newton, Massachusetts, which by the way is one of the top wealthiest cities in all of Massachusetts. So yeah, it's a really nice place to grow up. Sarmas parents were super successful.

Her mom was a professional chef. I mean, imagine a parent cooking up the most delicious meals. Sarmas loved to help her mom cook. She loved helping her come up with these little new recipes any chance she got. She loved watching her mom just in the zone in the kitchen. She was just impressed in awe of her mom. Sarmas' dad was also quite impressive.

He was a physicist at MIT. So yeah, her dad, John, said Sarmas was just the super self-contained, super quiet kid. Sarmas older sister would always be the one that spoke up her mind. She would stand up for Sarmas. She was just kind of the stronger personality out of the two. Sarmas had a bit of a hard time expressing herself. She just kind of bottled it all up. They said it was really hard to get through to her.

So for example, when Sarma is nine, the parents sit her down. We've got some bad news. We're getting a divorce. And they held their breaths. You know, they closed their eyes, they probably gritted their teeth, waited for the explosive response. The parents probably talked to their friends, red books, red articles online about how kids,

especially nine years old, would probably freak out. They'd probably scream, shout, maybe even kicked people, kicked their beloved stuffed animals. But parents look up and she's just staring at them. She calmly gets up, walks to her room, crawls into her bed, and just stays there. She doesn't come out for hours. And when she finally does, she acts like none of it happened. Not like she was in denial, but just, you know, she moved on from the conversation. Okay, got it processed. This is the new reality. She never

talked to anyone about the divorce ever again, and for some reason her parents didn't ask her how she felt, or didn't ask her what she was thinking. Maybe they just assumed that she liked to deal with things on her own time, or maybe some of the kept it bottled up. I just can't imagine how this incident doesn't have a profound impact on her character, which I'm not saying. Her parents weren't great, but sometimes I wonder, if parents are a little bit too academic, does that change the way that they raise their kids? I've heard, you know, a lot of stories where, like if professors have a kid, they almost

treat their kid almost as an adult too early. And like, oh, we'll let them figure out their feelings on their own time. So it kind of gives me this situation, but maybe the kids actually need some support or some kind of guidance Maybe some open dialogue anything. I just can't imagine why they just let her go on her own and do her own thing So anyways, by the time that Sarma is 14 years old her personality starts shining through at school She was a bit of a loner. She didn't know how to explain it or what the problem was, but Sarma said I'm different from everyone else I just don't fit in and you know what the problem was, but Sarmas said, I'm different from everyone else. I just don't fit in.

And you know what? Who the fuck cares that I have no friends? I'm gonna do big things. Why should I feel bad that I'm not normal? Normal is boring. Normal is bad. I don't need to be normal. I feel like we love that angsty teenager vibe.

She's like, I'm not normal and different. But Sarmas was really nice in caring to other people, just maybe not her normal high school peers. But outside of that, she was really nice. She loved to help people. Anytime she saw anyone that was without a home or going through a tough time, she would break down and start just giving them all her money. Just given them. To every single person she saw in the street. Sometimes it got to the point where her sister had to sit her down and say, I get it, I get where your heart is at, but you cannot give everyone money. You cannot, because you don't really even have that much money. That's my money.

Yeah, what do you, that was our allowance to get we were supposed to get ice cream and now we can't. You know, she's like, what are you doing? Now, side note, Sarma always had this fun hair. She wanted her hair to reflect her vibe at the time. Sometimes it was like this short and spiky hair. Sometimes she shaved it on the sides. Other times it was blonde, sometimes it was bright pink. It just seemed like she was really exploring herself.

Trying to figure out who she was. Now after high school, did I mention she was smart exploring herself, trying to figure out who she was. Now after high school, did I mention she was smart? Well, she's smart. She goes to Wharton. Oh yeah, Wharton School of Business. Some notable alumni, the current CEO of Alphabet Inc, the parent company of Google,

and YouTube, Elon Musk, Wall Street legend, Peter Lynch, Alex Gorksky, the executive chairman of Johnson and Johnson. So yeah, there's a lot of very intelligent people who went to Wharton. This is a very, very hard thing to do, but to make things even crazier is that Sarma wasn't even really passionate about it. She was like, I got in. I guess that's cool. Let me just go, go with the flow, straight into a Warren School of Business.

She just went with the safe option. After graduating, which is shocking, because considering she liked to be different, I wonder if it's her parents that pressured her into this or maybe she had maybe a strong financial desire or anxiety. She moves to New York City and she starts working for Bear Stearns,

which is this huge investment bank, a very reputable one at the time until 2008. But that's where she was working. I mean, this is a, wow, this is a great career path. But she remembers this one moment. She's working there. And it almost was like her life was in autopilot mode. And someone asked her, do you like this work?

Like is this really what you want to do? And Sarmalux that are confused, like, what are you talking about? Do I like, do you like it? Does anybody like it? I don't get it. Wait, people out here really like this. I mean, it seems like Sarmal always separated work

and passion. Work is something that you do for your career, for your financial security. It's not something that you actively enjoy, like that's weird. I mean, I think the person that asked the question realized Sarmalok's so confused. So she's trying to save it. Like, what I meant was,

I just thought because you seem really into food, so I thought you, I never mind. And Sarmal thought about it, and she's like, wait a minute. Everyone around me, my colleagues, my peers, my bosses, my competitors, everyone around me. I mean, they're getting subscriptions of the Wall Street Journal.

They're passionate. I'm over here, subscribe to Food and Wine. Like, that's my jam. So maybe, maybe this girl is onto something. So Sarmas said that she started thinking about it all the time since then. Like, am I really in the right field of work? And after one and a half years of working at Bear Stearns,

she left. And she was very, very lucky to not need another job right away. Her parents either supported her or she had saved up enough money to finance her life in New York City while she went to culinary school. So she enrolled in the French culinary institute. And while she's there, she's studying all these different chefs, these restaurant tours.

And the one that she really fixated on, the one that became her idol was a chef named Matthew Kenney. What a name. We love a two first name person. He was a celebrity chef of sorts in New York City. He owned a restaurant. He was working on a highly anticipated cookbook. I'm sure there were pre-orders already.

It's crazy. So when she heard that Matthew was looking for an assistant, oh she immediately applied. She didn't even care. She didn't even care if she didn't get the job. Just the chance to sit there and meet her idol and have an interview with him. Huge opportunity. She was able to meet with him personally and by the ends of the interview, Starmaid didn't just have a job. She had a date. Personally, and by the ends of the interview, Starmaid didn't just have a job. She had a date.

What? Which is like, yeah, I know, where is HR when you need them? What is this? Now, I'm not implying that Matthew hired Starma because he wanted to date her, but they did start dating very soon after she was hired almost immediately. And they went all out. It was not a discreet relationship.

They went on TV shows together. They did big cooking shows. I mean, they were really loved by viewers. People thought this is such a cute dynamic. Look at them. Look at them all ripped and jacked and fit and lean and vegans. They liked it. Chefs. Oh, Wait, is this the husband? Yeah. Oh, okay. Yeah. Well, they don't, I don't think they officially got married. Oh. So the two of them afterwards, they're like the celebrity couple chef, yeah. And the two of them afterwards, they'd probably lay in bed, day dreaming about opening up a restaurant together.

So in 2001, they have the chance to finally open up a restaurant called Commissary. And it did not do well. And so in 2003, it closed its doors, but they didn't give up. They wanted to try again. So they reached out to a restaurant tour named Jeffrey Chaudero. Now like, hey Jeff Jeff, we want to open up a new restaurant. Listen, we'd love for you to invest in it, but we want something different, fresh, new, something New York City really isn't used to.

We want to open a Parava vegan restaurant. We want to show people that veganism is not a hippie thing. We want veganism to be sexy, to be upscale intimate. I mean, this seems a little a little ahead of its time, but Jeffrey took his, but Jeffrey took a chance on them. He was friends with Matthew and he thought, you know what? They kind of know what they're doing. They're passionate. Let's see where this goes. And it paid off because like I said the restaurant was an instant success Mainly the celebrity clientele got a lot of eyes on the restaurant

It was listed twice in New York magazines top 100 restaurants and five years in a row and Forbes magazine list of all star New York eateries Which is all crazier by the fact that pure food in wine did not look like the other restaurants on the list. The front of the restaurant was not obnoxious or flashy or one of those like super organic looking restaurants in LA. It looked like a hole in the wall. And when you walk inside, it's just this very cozy atmosphere, it's small but it's well-appointed, it's refined, everything is well decorated. So this atmosphere is bougie people eating raw food and of course the charismatic owners, I mean they would just walk around, greet everyone, greet the select, wow.

The restaurant skyrocketed on these lists. So within a year, Sarma and Matthew were so successful. Again with Jeffreys' help, they opened up a sister restaurant called One Lucky Duck Juice Bar. So it was a raw vegan bar that sold healthy vegan desserts, snacks, and refreshments. They even had an online website that opened up, and I mean, they sold a bunch of things, anything related to raw organic living, skin care, supplements, books, apparel, home products. They even distributed almond milk and other vegan alternatives to over 30 grocery stores

and shops. And then in 2009 they opened up another second one lucky duck location in New York's bustling Chelsea market. So their first main restaurant, pure food and wine, had only been open for about five years. And they're all they're already getting requests all the way from Tokyo. Businessmen are like, we want you to open up this in Tokyo. Oh my god. People from Istanbul were reaching out to inquire about a location there. I mean, Sarma was overwhelmed with happiness. This was her dream.

She finally, she found her passion and it happened to be a global success soon. Also to put it out there, I think a lot of business people in restaurant tours, they wanted to work with a couple, but mainly because of Sarma. Matthew was a bit more, I guess he could say normal. So Sarma was very charismatic.

She treated her employees like friends. Some of them even called her Sarma at one point. She put her entire life into her work and everyone could see it. She was the more passionate of the duo. She, the way people describe it is, you know, if your boss is so passionate, shows up 24-7 puts in the hard work, it's hard to not want to work hard at work too. I mean, that's kind of who she was. She was all in and her employees

they freaking loved her. And they loved the relationship with Matthew. Everybody looked at and thought, wow, couple goals. They seemed perfect. You know, they're on magazine covers of culinary magazines. At one point, they even had their own cookbook, and she would wear these shoes, these little sneakers. She would wear them around the restaurant, and on the back, it said, I love Matthew. Yeah, this couple was really giving Gordon Ramsay a run for his money. Either people teased her for these sneakers, but they secretly thought it was cute, or they were just straight up jealous.

Like, how can two people be so lucky to not only find love, but fame and success together? Is it too good to be true? Oh, yeah, because one day the sexy couple stopped being so lovvy, devy. Because you see, Sarma was slowly growing resentful of her perfect other half of the avocado. She was kind of bringing her down, to be honest. He wasn't responsible with money. He had a bad reputation amongst some potential investors. Sometimes these potential investors would say no to the deal just because of him and his

reputation, that he wasn't paying them on time, that he didn't pay bills on time, he never paid off his debt, he was just a bit shady to work with. So she's losing all these deals because of him, not because of her, she's putting in more work than him. And she's getting frustrated. She's the one that's always careful with money. Why should she work extra hard to make up for his shitty reputation? She's the backbone of all of this and he doesn't even recognize this.

So Starma is pissed. So pissed in fact that she stopped wearing her I love Matthew sneakers. And that's just how you know. Some real shit's going down. And it's probably not gonna get fixed during couples counseling because it's not even a fixable issue at this point. You know, she burned the sneakers. It's over. I'm kidding. I don't think she burned it, but it's pretty much over. I don't know if they tried, but tensions just boiled over and the couple broke up in 2009. Now, breakups are always messy. Maybe you live together, you gotta find a new place.

Maybe you have kids, maybe you're married, maybe you have a business that you have to figure out what to do. But in this case, it was all of that minus the marriage. I mean, they had this multi-million dollar business that you have to figure out what to do. But in this case, it was all of that minus the marriage. I mean, they had this multi-million dollar business that they needed to find a way to run together. Neither of them was going to let this restaurant go. It was their baby. They both still loved work.

They thought somehow it was going to work out in the end. But then the relationship watchers came into the picture. The paparazzi. Their breakup was high profile. Very public. Vegan couple breaks up. All over the news. People would get a seat at the restaurant just to watch them interact now after the breakup. Will they be friendly? Will they smile at each other? Will the restaurant be still up and running so smoothly? Or will someone get a lucky break and catch them sneering at each other, scaling at each other, will they even act like they don't exist when they walk by?

Ooh, it was like a real-life drama. Do you think they're still sleeping together? I bet one of them cheated. Oh yeah, I heard celebrities are always hitting on her. Maybe she slept with one of them. Sometimes these people wouldn't even order food. They would just stand there trying to get pictures or some private insight into this couple.

I mean, it was a pain to deal with emotionally, mentally, but also in the space of business, it was just not financially great. Obviously, it's not going to work out in the long run. The couple decide, we can't do this. We can't work with each other anymore. So Matthew calls up Jeffrey, the investor, and the co-owner and says, hey, Sarmony needs to go.

Sarmony calls him and says, hey, I don't think we can do this anymore. We need to work something out. And Jeffrey realized that he had to choose between the two. Jeffrey knew Matthew longer. And the only reason he did this deal in the first place because he knew Matthew. Matthew had experience. He had his own restaurants before he knew how to run it. Sarmann, on the other hand, Jeffrey only knew her through Matthew and she was much, much less experienced, but she was a bit more logical.

She was a bit more level-headed of the two. And she did graduate from Wharton, which is where Jeffrey graduated. I mean, that's gotta mean something, right? They gotta be teaching you something at Wharton, right? So Jeffrey, the astute businessman that he is, probably weighed out each person's strengths and their cons and he came to the conclusion. Sarma? Let's do this.

And Matthew was shocked. Like, are you kidding me? But Jeffray made his choice. He even agreed to sell his half of pure food and wine and one lucky duck to Sarma for two million dollars in debt that she would pay off to him. to sell his half of pure food and wine and one lucky duck to Sarma for $2 million in debt that she would pay off to him. She agreed. I mean she was terrified, but this was her dream.

And sure, now she had $2 million in debt over hanging over her head, but she owned the restaurant fully. Everything was going to be her decision. Her vision would be the only vision, and that was terrifying. And exciting. She said it was a dream and a nightmare. So Sarma gets to work. And like I said, she's a very intelligent woman.

She saw that social media was picking up. She knew that people would pick up on it too. So this would be a super valuable marketing tool. She made a Facebook page for her restaurant. She started getting active on Twitter. She even made it to Gwyneth Paltrow's newsletter. Which I don't know if that's the kind of marketing that you're looking for, but I guess any PR is good PR. She started getting active on Twitter. She even made it to Gwyneth Paltrow's newsletter, which I don't know if that's the kind of marketing

that you're looking for, but I guess any PR is good PR. She was getting more and more attention, not just for her restaurant, but once the single male patrons at her restaurant find out that she was back on the market. Okay. So allegedly, now I don't know how much of this

is Hollywood gossip and how much was intertwined into this story line to make it even more sensational than it already is. But allegedly, Alec Baldwin was a friend of hers. Okay, Alec Baldwin was in the restaurant and some would say that he, you know, came to talk to Sarma and he told her that he was a little bit lonely and he was looking for a friend. I mean, most people would think, oh my god, Alec Baldwin is hitting on me or like sending me a signal. But allegedly, Sarma looked at him, pondered and said,

well, a lot of lonely people get dogs, you should get a dog. Why would you break into these apartments? For money, for drugs, whatever was in there. Why aren't you afraid of getting caught at doing this? No, who's gonna catch us? What a police. It was the height of the crack era, and instead of locking up drug dealers, some New York City cops had become them. I would suit up in my uniform and we're going to want some drug dealers, and I know how to do it really well.

This is the inside story of the biggest police corruption scandal in NYPD history and the investigation that uncovered it all. Did you consider yourself a rat? 100%. I saved my soul just like everybody else does. Listen to and follow the set, an Odyssey originals documentary podcast series available now in the Odyssey app, Apple

podcasts, or wherever you get your shows. And she starts emailing him links to dogs that are up for adoption. I mean, okay, listen, if this story is true, yeah, She's definitely into it and if this story is true, I mean assuming most people know that Ali Baldwin is probably not trying to get a dog, like what's going on? Yeah, she's like, then, then she's playing. Yeah, she's using that Wharton brain, okay?

But here she is sending him links to dogs that are up for adoption. And while she's looking at these dogs, she comes across a picture of a pit bull named Leon. And she just, she felt so drawn to this dog. She couldn't stop looking at this dog's pictures and thinking about this dog. She found herself thinking about this dog while she was at work while she was cooking. Maybe that's not a good direction, but she was thinking about the dog a lot. So she decides she can't do this. She's got to have the dog. She adopts Leon. And it's just kind of this perfect, you know, she was going through this rough

time in life and her dog was going to get her through it. Sarmac claims that Alec Baldwin kept hitting on her. This is so bizarre of a story, I tell you. Like I really cannot decipher how much of this is gossip and how much is true. I just know this whole thing is batching crazy. So he's like, oh my god, Alec Baldwin keeps hitting on me. She introduces him, or I don't know if she introduces him, or maybe at the restaurant, he runs in to his now wife, Elaria Baldwin. So this, you know, kind of romance starts, they get serious. So obviously Alec Baldwin is no longer hitting on Sarma if he ever was.

And now Sarma is lonely lonely and she missed her chance. She's like, dammit! Could have been Sarma Baldwin. I don't know, all right. And she's going through another breakup and she had dated someone right after Matthew and it didn't go well. It was like a rebound.

And that's why she had turned down Alec Baldwin according to her. And now it's like all over and she's got this dog. It's just adulting is hard. She's got two million dollars in debt. All of this pressure, this pressure to be a successful woman, but also get married soon because she's heading into her late 30, it's just a lot. And she just always had financial risk just waiting at her door since she's this restaurant owner. I mean, I can imagine that this is probably not the greatest thing for someone's mental health. This does seem very, very stressful. It's been especially

because she's the type to bottle things up, and it was just a rough time, and all she had was her dog Leon for emotional support. She's overworked, lonely, just alone. But she still had to keep up with appearances. She needed to do photo shoots, mingle with restaurant pay trends, with potential investors, network, go to business dinners. And when she got home, she would wipe off all that makeup and cuddle with her dog. And now, Sarmas said that she was a lot more of an introverted person. All this networking, it was just draining. It did not come naturally to her. Even though it looked like it did, it didn't.

So after work all she wanted to do was cuddle on her couch with her dog, grab her laptop, and go on Twitter. She loved social media. It was fun for her. Now, this is the part where the Alec Baldwin storyline gets even weirder. Sarma followed Alec Baldwin on Twitter. And she always kept an eye out for Selena, no,

for his tweets, okay. Now, maybe she was still hoping that there was a chance for them, I don't know. But she was lurking when someone caught her attention. A guy named Shane Fox. That was his name, but his official Twitter handle was a very romantic one, okay. He was at, you know, you want it. AKA Mr. Long Bonoms. Neville is at you. Nevilleville put the phone down. Neville,

it's time for class. You'd always tweet at Alec drawing little cartoons for Alec and they weren't funny but like Sarmagiegled and Sarmat thought they were funny and she's sitting there thinking, well maybe this is a sign. I mean think about it. I got my dog because of Alec and Alec met his future wife at my restaurant It only makes sense that I would meet my soulmate through Alec Baldwin's Twitter Can I be honest with you? That's a lot of mental cartwheels Okay, and after some Twitter stalking Sarma found out the Shane Fox guy is from Massachusetts and she's like oh my god Stop with the signs. I'm from Massachusetts and she's like oh my god stop with the signs I'm from

Massachusetts which I don't know about you but Shane Fox is the shadiest most generic catfish name that I've ever heard of in my entire life but here we are she adds them as a friend or follows him I don't know how Twitter works and they start playing little games on the side words with friends then they start chatting eventually they start texting calling games on the side. Words with friends, then they start chatting. Eventually, they start texting, calling, even video calls. And he starts tweeting about how kisses are only for Leon and a fox. He also reposted a video of the dark side of the pork industry, and he tweeted along with,

this is where your bacon comes from. And Sarma tweeted back at him, this is how you know Mr. Long Bottoms and I have been chatting. He even tweeted, I'm not a vegan, however I do eat anything Mrs. Fox puts in front of me. It's all delicious. So anyway, the two of them they start FaceTiming.

And Shane looked like Shane. He wasn't a creepy 80-year-old guy using a fake person's pictures. No, the guy was the guy. I mean, sure he looks a little bit different. Now, this is her quotes and not mine, but Sarma noticed that he looked quote heavier than his pictures. No, the guy was the guy. I mean, sure, he looks a little bit different. Now, this is her quotes and not mine, but Sarmar noticed that he looked quote heavier than his pictures. And she thought to herself, hmm, he doesn't quite look like his pictures now, does he? I'm used to dating super lean guys that are all vegan and just ripped and muscular, but Shane looks more like a defensive football player. And she said this, they're really strong and muscular,

but there's that extra weight there. He was a bulky guy, but Sarmad didn't want to judge him for that. I don't know, that sounds judgy to me, but she was like, I don't want to judge him for that. And she's like, well, this guy's not a weirdo. Maybe it'll work. So they start face timing. And he just had this vibe about him.

Shane was a man's man. He would talk to her about how he liked to be the provider and the protector, how he could easily lift Sarma up with one arm, oh, and he could hold up her pit bull in the other. Oh, my God, you guys are just like so, we need tall, tiny little petite little, my muscles are huge. Sarma oddly, she was into it.

She was like, tell me more. Now she claims at this time she was in a really vulnerable position. It makes sense, right? She's in this position where she just needs someone to be her rock, someone to center her, someone to make her feel a little bit more stable. It feels out of control living in New York City away from her family, running these multi-- I mean investors are putting millions of dollars into you are accountable for so much money for so many things going on. It seems like a lot, right? Yeah. So after about a month of FaceTiming her being like, hell yeah, let me lift you up like a little finger. You look a little piece of paper.

Compare to my giant biceps, baby, they get it. That's what he's saying. Or at least that's what I imagine he's saying, don't sue me. And they decide after a month that they're gonna meet. And they hit it off. Sarma felt like this guy, this guy gets me. Not just like physically, but on an emotional level. She was super hesitant to make another relationship

public though, she had learned her lesson. She didn't even tell everyone that she worked with, minus view select employees. She told them, oh, it's not that serious. I met this guy through words with friends. Is that true? No, I mean, I guess saying I met him through Alec Baldwin's Twitter mentions. Just doesn't hit the same though. Yeah, okay. Sometimes Sarma would introduce Shane as an old college friend. Sometimes with no forethought, she would introduce Shane as her cousin. But by the end of the night,

she would be near the bar, cuddling up to Shane. I mean, that's really bad planning if you ask me because it sparked a lot of debate between her employees. Like, who the hell's that guy? Now I think that's her new boyfriend they met online like playing games. No, they didn't. He went to Wharton with her.

Wait, no, that's not what I heard. And then one clueless employee would be on the side going, no, that's her cousin. So like, what are you saying? That's not her cousin. And everyone would just shake their head. Like, what is going on? But the one thing that they agreed on is that Shane Fox came out of nowhere. Like this was not a name that they had ever heard of now these employees had been with Sarma since day one

They're all super close. Why didn't Shane's name ever come up? I mean so random all they could find out about him online was that he had 50,000 Twitter followers He had a Rolex and a Bentley and cousin or not they were for sure dating if not sleeping with each other Like this was not a pure platonic relationship. So they're itching to ask Sarmadhi's questions, which honestly, who knows if she had even answers to them? Sarmad didn't even know that much about Shane either. He kinda gives off red flags in that sense.

Like, he's just one of those guys that never really talks about himself. And at first, you're like, wow, he's a great listener, or maybe you're thinking, wow, he really wants to focus on getting to know me. What a fresh change from the other guys.

Then it's like, what the hell is he hiding? Why wouldn't he answer any questions? Why is he so vague and evasive? Sarmac claims at first she didn't know what he did for a living. He was very vague about it. She couldn't help but feel like it's gotta be some shady under the table stuff.

He would say things like, it's gotta be some shady under the table stuff. He would say things like it's better for your safety, it's for your own protection that you don't ask me what I do for a living. I work for a company, a big company, a scary company, we call it the firm. You might have heard of them on the streets they're called uberi yachts. Uberi Yots. Uberi? I'm just kidding. I'm just kidding. He was just like, it's very protection that you shouldn't know. Okay. He just said that much. And he just always did the most with it. He's always like, no, baby, I just don't want you to get hurt. I just want to keep you safe. You

know? Now for most people, this would have this would have them running for the hills. But to start my just added to his intrigue while he's so mysterious, so alluring, so exciting! Maybe it's the fact that he had a Bentley and a Rolex because I imagine that adds to the intrigue, it's like the 50 shades of grey syndrome. Would it be 50 shades of grey if he wasn't a billionaire? Or would it just be a potential toy box killer, you know? What would it be? So, I'm sure the Bentley and the Rolex added to it.

She felt like, well, if he was unemployed or trying to lie about his job, how would he get these things? He would still have to be somewhat successful in his career path, no? And then there was his phone. She wasn't allowed to use it. Red flag number two. Now, she wasn't allowed to use it,

but she could see his lock screen, right? Like when you turn, like the light comes on, the lock screen, and it was some sort of seal on the lock screen. She said, I'm sorry, she said it looked like the seal of the CIA, which no offense, but that is so irritatingly dumb. Like why would that be your lock screen? If you were really part of the CIA,

and your phone had CIA valuable information. I don't know. Maybe I wouldn't put that on the log screen. Maybe that's not the smartest thing to... But you know what? Maybe it works. Maybe if I saw a phone with the CIA seal on the log screen, I would immediately think, ah, it's a 13-year-old's phone trying to work for the CIA. So maybe this is some reverse psychology. Good one. I like it, CIA.

So Sarmar, she was all into it. One time she even saw Shane reviewing Dron footage on his computer, and it just looked super black up, super covert. He talked about having assistance, a personal chauffeur. I mean, this guy isn't just CIA. I mean, he's got to be elite something. There was one time that Shane drove Sarmar to work, and he pulled over at a regular building

and he said, hold on, stay here. I have to go inside and grab something real quick. Just wait in the car. It's safer that way. And he comes back carrying a small envelope filled to the brim with loose diamonds. What in the world is going on? I mean, added with the Bentley,

the drone footage, the loose diamonds, I'm like, okay, I can see how someone could maybe believe he's doing something illegal. Yeah, but he's like rich, right? Which is like, oh, so it's the most important thing. Listen, I would still be running for the hills, but I'm sure maybe there is that like feel the whole mafia plot line. Maybe that's the trope she was looking for. Like he's just gonna mafia sweep her off her feet. I mean, why would someone take their time with such an elaborate lie? Like it's gotta be the truth.

She liked the mystery. She liked the wealth. She liked everything. He was intriguing. And she liked the fact that she didn't need to know what he did for a living. Maybe in the beginning it was nice because her head is already filled with all of her work stuff. Maybe it's easier for her to not worry about his work stuff. But sometimes Shane would let it slip

about how important his job was. He would say these really intense things that I think are also intensely comical. I do what I do, so people like you can sleep at night. Thank you Batman. Do you work for a melatonin factory? Because that's what I need. Just really, this man is watching too much Batman, James Bond.

I mean, are you kidding me? But it's not like Sarmar or anyone could really disprove Shane's story. So he never really stated which agency he worked for. And there's no online database for people on covert missions That's a whole part of keeping secret missions and agencies There's no way to verify if any of this is true like it's not gonna be on his LinkedIn And Sarma rarely saw him in the beginning of their relationship because he was still living in Massachusetts So there wasn't much time to grill him about work. They were just focused on their own connection

But of course there were some very suspicious things. For example, he would just drop off the face of the earth for days at a time. She would just assume it had to do with work. Maybe she'd be worried sick for a couple of days wondering if some foreign agency got him. If he died, if the Joker got him, maybe Gotham wasn't safe after all. And when she finally got a call back from him, she was too relieved to even ask him questions. At first, I started just like that.

But slowly, Sarma started getting more involved in these missions. Not like actually going on the missions, not even knowing what the missions are. No, he would call her after days of being at Maya, and he would urgently say to her, babe, I need you to send me a few thousand dollars. The mission isn't going as planned, it's getting bad. He always sounded like it was immediate, it was life or death.

And what's a few thousand dollars for the love of your life? Sarma wouldn't even hesitate, she lent him the money. Okay, a few thousand, okay. Okay, so Sarma's friends and coworkers, they started to worry. I mean, there were so many red flags, a huge one, okay. Okay, so Sarma's friends and coworkers, they started to worry. I mean, there were so many red flags, a huge one being that Shane also, when he wasn't on these missions,

he was kind of inserting himself into their work. Oh, and the fact that he wasn't who he said he was, at all, his name wasn't even Shane Fox. But I guess we all kind of figure that one out. But to give you some context. Yeah, so Sarma had an admin office that was separate from the restaurant. So she and the other employees they would work on finances, the back of the house stuff, ordering supplies, food, payroll.

The office was typically a room in Sarmah's apartment at the time, so her employees were in and out of her place. One day, before Shane full-on moved in, he called the phone at Sarmah's place to talk to her. But the caller I did didn't say Fox. It's at Anthony Strangers. The employees were like, okay, that's strange. So what's the first thing that they do? So the first thing I would do, either Google literally, I zillow it. It is what it is. Okay. So Anthony Strangers, he pops up. Oh, wonderful. The first Google hit that they find is his mug shot. And guess what?

He looks just like Shane's fox. So this is the same guy. The alarm bells are going off with Sarma's employees. Like, nope, this is not okay. This is dangerous. I mean, we're just looking after her. We've known her for years. This guy just came into the picture. We don't feel like we're overstepping. So when they bring it up to her, she just brushes them off. Yeah, I mean, um, people make mistakes, that was in his past. What? People make mistakes, that was in his past. What are you saying? Sarma did ask Shane about it, and he very easily

talked himself out of it. Oh, babe, when I go on these covert missions, I got multiple identities. So it was during this one job that I ended up getting arrested for something and it was like this huge misunderstanding. Anyway, my real name really is Anthony Strangest, but the thing is, the thing is, while I was on this job, I got arrested, like it was, I had to give my, because I couldn't blow my cover. So anyway, yeah, that's what happened. Now, when I tell you what he was arrested for, you're going to roll your eyes, because

it's hard not to. He was arrested for a felony of impersonating an officer. No way. So he was in the car with his wife at the time. He was married. Yes, he had married. He was married. Had a kid. Just armoured it and know this probably.

Anyways, the police report filed said that Anthony was in a parked car with his wife at the time, and he was yelling at her in the car so loudly that an officer who was off duty who happened to leave nearby heard it. When he was alarming, he goes to investigate. Now he's in his plane closed, and he tells the guy, hey, get out the car. Leave. Leave the woman alone. The guy keeps ignoring him because he's like, what are you doing?

Like mind your own business, Karen. And the officer who was dressed in plane closed decided, I write, I don't want to have to do this, but I'm an off duty deputy. I'm calling in for a disturbance right now. Anthony snaps out of it, runs to the officer who's not walking away on his phone. And Anthony's like, well wait, and he flashes him a badge. Sir, I'm an officer from Massachusetts and I was just leaving anyway. He literally flashed the badge so quickly.

He runs back to the car and they drive off. So obviously the officer's not having it. And he had another police officer stop him on the road to make sure that the woman in the car was okay. The new officer is like, so where's your badge? Massachusetts PD. And he's like, damn it. Because now the police officer can go check it,

verify it, he has a car. He can run some scans. So he's fests it up and he's like, okay, fine, it's my daddy's badge. It's not actually mine. Thus, he was arrested for impersonating a police officer. He said that his real job was a salesman at appliance depot. Anyway, he talked himself out of it. I imagine he said something along the lines of, well, I actually wasn't a cover, but I couldn't

have them contact the agency because then the agency would blow my cover. And then it was just, I just had to get arrested. I had to pretend like I was faking being an officer. When I really, I am an officer, you know what I mean? Yeah. What kind of officer drives around in the belly? Yeah, that's what I'm saying. What kind of, I'm never met a CIA agent that drives around in a belly. Exactly. That'd be red flag number one, sir. You're working with the criminals. I know you are. age and that drives around her Bentley. Exactly. That'd be red flag number one, sir. You're working with the criminals. I know you are.

Who's that? Are you really on? Mr. Bentley. Now, Sarmatik is word for it, but something in her kind of changed. She was exhausted of all the secrets, the weird questions, hiding all these things from her friends and colleagues. She felt like she didn't even know Shane, or Anthony.

Is that his name? I guess I'll start calling him Anthony because eventually she started using his real name too. Anthony. Yeah, it's so confusing. She starts asking more questions. Sometimes she would just let out a sign and say, you know you can trust me. Why aren't you just being upfront with me? And he would give some bullshit answer. It's all for your protection. You don't understand how this works. And I don't expect you to. But there are just things that I can't tell you. Sarma even went back home to her mom for a little while to clear her head, try to get some space, Anthony begged to pick her up and drive her back to the city. She agreed.

I mean, he was being so nice about it. Anthony came to pick her up and his dad was there. Okay, great. So I'm meeting your dad. And the about it. Anthony came to pick her up, and his dad was there. Okay, great. So I'm meeting your dad. And the whole ride from New Hampshire to New York City, Anthony's dad is just talking non-stop about, listen, my son Anthony is just so exhausted from all his undercover work.

You know how it takes a toll on him, but you're the only one that can really set him free. He's just so happy when he's with you. So now she's like, okay, I mean, I guess that makes sense. Maybe it is better if I don't know. So now she's kind of like this is confusing. His dad is backing up his story. He is working for an agency. He is stressed and I am making him happy and it was just a lot. They both knew that she was struggling to run her business this restaurant but it was her dream and she was just looking for some support. Someone to comfort her and confirm to her, you can do it. You're capable. Don't be scared. I

think that's what she needed. Sarma thought it was an emotional connection, but it seemed like it was just manipulation. Anthony knew exactly what she needed to hear, and he was really good about it. When they get back to the city, the two of them decide they're going to work on things, they're going gonna fix their relationship. And as a celebration, Anthony took her to Tiffany's. Where from the moment she walked in, she was treated like a princess. She was given champagne, a list treatment. She was trying on rings that cost $800,000. And she was like, wow, I mean, he must really be someone.

So this just confirmed in her head, again this guy is somebody and he told her one day I'm gonna propose to you when work gets a little less crazy. I'm gonna propose to you And at lunch, Sarmo was so happy. She said I love you And I'm so happy with you and I love being with you and it's rough and it's tough But we're gonna get through it and Anthony being the asshole that he is, he would use this against her repeatedly. He would constantly remind her, remember what you said at King Coves, like restaurant? Remember what you said? How you love me and how you want to be with me? Do you remember that? Well don't forget that. The two of them started house hunting to really settle down and when I say house hunting

I mean mansion hunting. They were looking for houses in the $15 million range, which is absolutely insane. And I know for a fact in the New York City market, I highly doubt a realtor will show you these houses without any pre-approval. Oh, yeah. So I don't know how he finesse that one, but I guess you know, a lot of time you can show a fake statement, you can just edit it and send it to the realtor. But Sarma, knowing that you probably need a pre-approval without realtor is going to waste their time on you, she's thinking, oh, okay, this guy really is. Sky really is something. On top of that, he would even take her to these appointments that he had with these massive

banks. For example, you know, Barclays, the massive bank, well, I guess they really wanted to woo Anthony. They invited Anthony to their big building into their fancy conference room where they were treated like royalty, all sorts of refreshments, nice gestures, some gifts. The bank was trying to land the client, which is the most crazy thing ever when you think about it, when you get to a level of money, that the bank is trying to woo you. They're like, put your money in our bank, please.

I mean, they kind of do it with even everyone. Yeah, but the fact that it's like this level is so weird when you think about it, it's just what's that like, it's weird. So now she's like, okay, Barclays, all these, I mean, she worked in this type of industry. This is crazy. So they're all excited. Anthony even talked about taking them all out for drinks later at the Barclay guys You know, you know, I mean and the balls rolling super fast and then Nothing I mean nothing Anthony said it was really hard to liquidize his funds which were all in the form of loose diamonds

So he started so he starts ghosting everyone the realtor, the bankers, the attorneys, everyone, they never bought a house. So like I said, it's just so many small things that I think anyone, if they're in the right mindset and you want to believe this, because you know, you want to believe that who you're dating is the successful, important person that, you know, it doesn't hurt that they have millions and millions and millions of dollars, right? So if you want to believe it and you get treated like this at Tiffany's at Barclays, you're looking at 15 million dollar houses You have to believe that some of it's true at least at least a little bit. Yeah. Now nobody needs to be boo-hooing

Also sad this couple didn't get a 15 million dollar house Not that anyone was, you know, boohooing them, but to really nail it home, Sarmor was also killing it. Sure, she was still $2 million in debt to Jeffrey, but this was better than owing the bank money because Jeffrey was a really nice business man. He allowed her to skip payments, especially in the beginning when she was getting used to, you know, learning the ropes of running it completely alone. Sometimes she skipped payments for months. She just gave Jeffrey whatever she could scrape together, but he always trusted her, never pressured her,

and she appreciated. She wanted to make him proud. He was like this mentor to her, a mentor that took a big chance on her. So now in the early 2010s, Sarmas business is really taking off. She's making about $7 million in gross sales a year. So after taxes, expenses, Sarmas herself was bringing in like $600,000.

So even with all this debt, I mean, there's a huge light at the end of the tunnel. Like it's a pretty, I wouldn't say it's a straightforward, easy light. I'm not trying to say she had it set up for success, but like she kind of had it set up for success, you know what I mean? It wasn't hopeless, and that's important later. She's not pushed into this corner. She's honestly living the dream, her dream. One day, Sarma even brought Jeffery a $100,000 check and it was just this really emotional moment for them.

She thanked him for never pressuring her and always believing in her and being patient with her. But then she's going to screw him over. So now here comes Anthony, singing about how, sorry, my, your $2 million in debt is dumb. Okay, I'm going to change your life. I've got 30 times your debt sitting in an offshore account. I've got three times your debt in loose diamonds. I can pay it off faster than you can pay off your McDonald's meal. He would say things like, I got you. Don't even worry about that. I'm gonna pay off your debt. This is baby money.

You're stressing about the wrong things. I love you. And Sarma was really excited. You don't really excited. I mean, do we blame her? I don't know. So just with Anthony saying that, Sarma's already talking to her accountant.

She's like, what, am I gonna be taxed on this? She's like, am I gonna, if he pays off my debt, am I gonna be taxed on this? She's like, if he pays off my debt, am I gonna be taxed on this and they accountin giggles and it's like I mean you guys could always get married then they can't tax you on it The two practically rushed to the courthouse after that. I mean they get their marriage license just like that November of 2012 They had known each other for about a year Now I don't know if Sarma was not trying to hear the nagging or what, but she kept it a secret from practically everyone.

Everyone at the restaurant found out that she was married from Anthony. And when they asked Sarma about it, they're like, wait, is this true? She brushed it off and said, yeah, yeah, yeah. So that doesn't make sense. First of all, why did you marry him? Two, you don't seem excited. Three, why are you trying to hide it? She even tried to hide her engagement rings

when she was working at the restaurant. So it was just also strange. I mean, it was weird. It's like he did buy her a ring. Yeah, not a good one, not an $800,000 tiff needs one. Yeah, and when I say not a good one, I'm sure it's a good one, okay? But just.

It wasn't $800,000. Yeah. It wasn't the one. It wasn't the one, exactly. I mean, it's weird. So she would hide this engagement ring. And it was weird to the point where her employees thought, maybe he blackmailed her into marrying him.

Because maybe he has something on her. This is not the newlywed glow. This isn't normal. Meanwhile, Anthony is using his new found husband status to try and insert himself into her business. and he started acting like he's in charge, buzzing people around, talking about my vision for the restaurant. Which everyone was at a Paul dad, they're like, shut up dude, you're not even a vegan, first of all, where the only reason we're tolerating you is because you married our boss, and

stop saying things like, I really see the restaurant going this direction. I really think it restaurant going this direction. I really think it would be advantageous if we did this. Everyone was getting annoyed. I mean, what do you mean, we, you weirdo? You don't even work here. Get out! But again, nobody said anything out of respect for Sarma.

They just all hoped Sarma would put her foot down. But she never did. She never stood up and said, Hey, love you babe, but this is my business. You have no place here or even a nicer Thanks for the input sweetie, but I've been doing this for 10 years and you just got here and you know nothing about anything So why don't you go play CEO somewhere else? She didn't say any of that. She never put up that boundary So Anthony started power tripping even harder. He started telling Sarma about vibes Sometimes an employee would walk in and he would just whisper to her,

yeah, she's got bad vibes. Bad, bad vibes. Sometimes he would get annoyed at employees for wearing a certain color shirt. Now, I don't know if they had a color code for certain days or shifts, but maybe he's just like green's not the vibe today. I don't know, but definitely not a good person to work around. And even though he was all up in her life, he still kept disappearing for days at a time,

leaving Sarma with no explanations, he said it was only going to get more intense now. Now that they were married, Sarma was being protected by the government too, and he was given orders that she needed to update all of her digital security, emails, bank accounts. They would have a tech guy named Will Richards make sure that her digital activity and her digital footprint was safe at all times. It's for her own good and her privacy. I mean, think about it. Someone finds out that Sarmar is his wife and wants to hack into her things to get to

Anthony. I mean, you know the drill. So she gives Will access to everything. Well, her emails, her financial statements, everything, which is just straight up wild because they never even met in person. Sarma kept in touch with William Richards for three to four years and to get these security updates, but never met him once, even though he had all of her personal information. All through email? All through email. Which I don't know about you, I'd be like, that sounds like the worst thing to do.

Talk about a digital footprint. You want me to email you all my logins and passwords from my banks through via email. Like what? Now back to Anthony. After getting married, he had more frequent life or death situations. He would email Sarma while out on a mission and he would tell her, listen I need 20 or $30,000 right now. It's life or death. Don't respond to this email and if you get a wire out, just send me a text saying, it's sunny outside today. I hope the weekend weather doesn't disappoint. Sarma would freak out panic

and she would send the wire and he wouldn't come home for another week and sometimes, you know, he would come home and not say anything about it or sometimes he'd come home with some bruises on his face and she knew that she couldn't ask. Because this is his job, this is what she signed up for. Sometimes everything was normal, they would have dinner plans, but he wouldn't show up and all of a sudden he would text her. In car, at 2am and then another one, shits going down. Then he would just vanish for days and his phone would be turned off. I mean, at this point, Sarmar's frustrated.

Not only is she worried sick for him all the time, but she's sending him so much money recently. Money that she needed for work, money that she owed Jeffrey, money though, her business counted on. It was all going to him for his little missions. What happened to all of his money? To add a frustration, Sarmar emailed Will once. Is he leaving me out to drive this week? The least he can

do is let me know. I need the money. Am I fucked? And we'll respond it. I can say, beyond a shadow of doubt, that you are NOT fucked. Lots of cash was moved last night. It just needs to be put safely in the books before it goes back into your account. That's as detailed as I can get through email. It'll happen by the end of the week. Don't worry. Shane is in Africa right now fighting rebels. Please don't mention to him that you know where he is, it'll only make things bad for me, and it'll upset him, and he needs to stay focused. Just try and understand this. Shane doesn't care if you hate him, or if he dies. He doesn't care if you think he's the bad guy, because he's not.

He knows that. He knows everything he's doing will work out in the end. He would rather keep you shielded from all of this and let you think that he's an asshole than ever risk you taking heat. Some would think that's a be noble. Oh my god. I've never heard a counter talk like this. Please. So then, yeah, wow, so shiny boy.-ass has a fanboy, someone rooting for him.

Why does we love him so much? Well, maybe, because you guys said, Shani's Anthony, Anthony is well and will is Shane. Wow. Flut twist. Now, as for his dad, I don't know what to say. I don't know if his dad really is that scummy. I mean, probably. But if he's that scummy, that he's gonna lie to Shane's girlfriends for him, or maybe he hired someone to pretend to be his dad, back up his story.

It's weird. But the red flags, they're still not getting through to Sarmat. Again, I think this is where the story kind of, a lot of people relate it to the boiling frog. Is this the real life boiling frog? We don't know. Like she's into deep. She is slowly getting boiled and she doesn't know. And that's why she doesn't know.

But from the outside perspective, we all know. We all know she's getting cooked. At least that's what she claims. Because he was this all-knowing person. And then he really seemed like he did work for the CIA, because he just knew a lot. Sometimes she would be writing him an email, and before she even sent it, he would call her and say, Hey, I know you're writing me an email right now about this,

but I just thought it'd be easier if we'd talk over the phone. What? One time Sarmo went out to lunch with a friend at a very specific restaurant, and she did not tell Anthony, and suddenly the waiter came up to her and said, Ma'am, Mr. Stranger's is on the line for you. Sarma was weirded out by all of this. Was he watching her?

How did he know where she was? She didn't tell him. In her mind, she thought he either has a sixth sense, or he can read my mind, or something, or he's everywhere. She claims that she never considered the fact that he had accessed her emails and her calendar. But Sarma didn't know because all of that was given to Will and never to Anthony. So Sarma would joke around with him that he was this non-human. He was Mr. Fox and he always knew too much. And Anthony played into it. He never told her how he knew or even that she's being silly. It was just a lucky guess.

He really started to make her feel and believe that he was non-human. He would slowly start saying things like, I've been searching for you for years, over a thousand years. I have lived so many lifetimes and everyone, every time I reincarnate for someone special to save me. And that person is Yosama and I finally found you. He started calling her TBH, tiny blonde human. He would say things like, you're just my tiny blonde human, but you're so special.

Almost implying that he himself was not human, that she was this mere mortal and he was taking care of her and this made her feel special. Eventually, it got to the point where he straight up stopped calling himself human. He called himself immortal. You're like, wow, that's crazy. And she said, no, it's true. He's like, I passed some tests and I became immortal. And if you follow me in my path, you can be immortal too.

So you and your beloved dog, Leon, we can all be a happy family in Utopia. We can all live happily ever after. So this is turning into a code now? Yes, so it's almost like Illuminati. Like that's the vibe he's giving. Like, oh, I know these people who turned me immortal. I sold myself to the devil. And now I've got loose diamonds everywhere

of my butt crack and I just like pinched them out. And I'm like, oh, have that get there. Like he was really playing into it. And at this point, Sama said it was easy to convince her of anything like she was in too deep. I mean, think about even how they met. She believed it was destiny. It was almost a coping mechanism.

She was sad and lonely when they met online and she told herself this is all meant to be. It's like she's way too far gone now, to give up now. She had to believe him for this fantasy to keep working and this fantasy was her coping mechanism from stress and work and from the real world. Besides, Sarma was a very open-minded person. She surrounded herself with fellow raw vegans and it said that in this circle of people it's not uncommon to see more out of the norm philosophies. Many of them are spiritual.

Many of them believe in the power of the universe or other ethereal mystical ideas. Sarmol never dismissed these things. She just tried to see where everyone was coming from. But what's wild is that? When Sarma was on board with one crazy idea, Anthony would level up. He would one up himself and throw out another crazy one, which would then make the previous idea and theories all seem so real and believable. I mean if I tell you that aliens have landed and are using your backyard as a hideout, but you never see them because they're freaking invisible. Then suddenly, my last claim of, no I did not eat your leftovers in the fridge.

That seems so normal, right? That seems completely acceptable compared to the aliens. So Anthony is now convincing her that none of their real life problems mattered because he's immortal. So her dead, her stress, her restaurant, they're all dumb. It would mean nothing. I mean they're gonna live forever It would mean nothing. I mean, they're going to live forever. Who freaking cares about these things?

You would ask her, are you ready to be immortal? Are you willing to risk it all for love? This is like a reality show and show. For love, for our happily ever after. I will make sure that you get the life that you deserve. I belong to a community. We call ourselves the family. We're all immortal and in order for you to join us, we have to trust you and let you enter our wealth.

Previously on vampire diaries. Yes! You have to prove to us that you're willing, that you believe that we're immortals. Oftentimes, people don't believe that we're actually immortal. So the way to do it, send us money whenever I ask for it. You give it to us without questions. We're trying to cut the ties between you and these mortal things such as money and dreams. You'll get your money back soon enough, and more,

enough money to last a lifetime. You're gonna get back every dime plus interest. You'll get your money back soon enough, and more. Enough money to last a lifetime. You're going to get back every dime plus interest. Sarmar agreed to this. In Anthony, whenever he felt her determination waver, he would pop up into the house with another $10,000 gift from the family, or $10,000 in cash. The family wants you to have this back. Or he would sit her down, cup her face in his hands and say, listen, nothing

further financially will ever be asked of you ever again. For as long as you live, I will bury whoever I have to human angel demon, whatever it is to finish this. I pledge that to you. When this is over, everything will be okay again. So I was like, are you going to keep fighting demons forever? And he said, I'll always fight them. Or some more. You see in the agency anymore, he's fighting demons now. He's fighting demons now. Okay.

He said, I will always fight them. Or some horrible monster somewhere. That's what I do. It's family business. Just a quick question, has Anthony been watching supernatural? Because it's very much giving Winchester brothers, Salvatore brothers, from Vampire Diaries. At this point, it's even giving Weasley brothers.

Like, you're doing a lot right now, sir. It's a wild, wild story. You're like family business. I mean, is he finally going to tell us what is about his weird dad as he is on this? No. The family were higher up beings, like a panel of judges, that were watching over

everyone to see who they were going to make immortal. Who was going to go past their test? It almost seems like the premise of it is very illuminati, so you sell your soul and you become immortal, but you're promised wealth and fortune and success. But you have to give up everything first. So that's kind of the vibe, which means you're going to transcend mortality. The family owned land in California, where if you passed all the tests you would be able to go at any time to hang out or to even live. Not gonna lie, it sounds bad shit crazy. But I guess in Sarmas defense, Anthony didn't come out right off the gate saying all of

these things. Instead he slowly eased her in all this. After years of being together, he even showed her random things that made her believe it was true, like his Bentley, his Rolex, him disappearing, him knowing her schedule, knowing that she was writing an email, all of these things.

Don't forget the seal on the phone. I mean, to be fair, we really have no idea what mental state she was in. It's like the cults, you know? When your level headed in, bad listening to this, you could think, I would never fall for that. That's so dumb. But think about when you're at your lowest.

You're most vulnerable and someone walks in and they don't even tell you you start putting this image in your head. How is this person going to save me? How is this person going to change my life? And they just kind of fit into the role that you've already created for them. And just by doing the smallest things, you can create a deeper image, a deeper vision that you're so tied to, hence the boiled frog comparison. He would tell her, one day, you're not going to be TBH. Your transformation is going to be completed in the next few weeks. Okay, and what's my role then? Queen. Sorry. On Friday, I will set you up with

the family accountants in the family house. Your transformation will be complete and you will take your seat at the table as queen. I will give you $100,000 a month in cash as allowance every single month forever. In the meantime, you act like a fucking boss and you do not do anything to compromise this or the family. Sarma said she believed this with her whole heart and she was so excited. Anthony noticed this and would even bring her back to reality. But till you get that seat at the table, till you get this transformation, don't fuck it up for us.

Because you've come this far and if you don't pass the test, it's not just money at stake. It's your life and it's my life too. You need to keep following all these instructions. You need to keep wiring me the money when I say I need it to the exact amount or else. But then Sarma would kind of back out, she would get a little bit frustrated. She'd say, listen, I don't think I can wire you any money right now. I really need it. And you would say, okay, well, you know how it is. If you don't wire it to me, the family is going to think you're just out for yourself. But I'm not out for myself. Listen,

I'm not scolding you, Sarma. You know what the fucking deal is here. If I say to do something, you do it. No, I get it. It's just, I already gave you the $100,000 on top of everything else. Well, Sarma, it's supposed to be difficult. It's supposed to make you doubt. It's face-based, and it's trial by fire. It's not a cakewalk.

Pound that into your fucking head. I'm the one that would get gutted from this, not you. So now we start on my really questioning things. Anthony felt like she needed to get even more vulnerable, because one day he comes home and tells her to pack her things. Come on, let's get out of here. We can't stay here anymore.

So they start moving around from Boston to Connecticut, Rhode Island. And eventually when they get back to New York City, they're still staying in fancy hotels. He tells her she can't go back to her place for her own safety. So Sarmas running her business, but now she's doing everything remotely, and her employees are freaking out, they're so worried. Like, what's going on?

Where are you? If you're in this city, why can't you just come into the office? She would just brush them off. And now that Anthony and Sarmas were trapped in a hotel room together all the time, Sarma was asking a ton of questions. And our guy Anthony just always had his way up. This is when he starts getting wheeled or, wheeled, weirder.

He convinced her allegedly that the family could hear them even in the hotel room, that they weren't safe. So now if they wanted to talk about something, they would have to do it in the box. You're like, but the suitcase, the closet? No, the box is an invisible bubble that Anthony would create.

Okay, yeah. He didn't just wave his dick, I mean wand around, like no. He went into the bathroom for a long time, then he called Sarmat and he said, okay, we're in the box now. Sarmat walked in and she would just see the entire sink covered in blood. Like it's alarming, it's very realistic in the sense of who would do that for such

an elaborate lie. We can say we're in the box now, we can talk freely. And I mean, of course, Sarmar had her doubts, but she just felt like her life was turning into a circus whenever she tried to voice her concerns and then he would tell her that's all part of the game, the test. Soon, it's going gonna be happily ever after. Listen, you signed on to this. You told me you loved me.

You told me you wanted happily ever after. I thought you were, you know, going along with everything. Because in the end, you wanted happily ever after. That's what you wanted. You told me that. I took you in the fucking box. I told you what was fucking going on. I held your fucking hand. I can explain it in the box and I did.

Anthony would get so upset whenever she refused to send him money. And this is a recorded call that Sarma gave to the doc to air. Anthony yelled at her, I tell you to send a wire, you send the wire, that's it. If I asked tomorrow to send the wire, are you gonna do it? Why? It's a direct question. Listen, if I've been rude or something, maybe I handle this too much like a soldier or a general and I apologize for that. Okay, well, I'm not sending

you money so you can do whatever the fuck you want to do with it. I don't do anything with its armor, it gets shelved. What does that mean? Where's the shelf? We've had this talk. Yeah, like every other talk. Your money, your fucking million dollars, oh, it's a lot of money, your fucking Jeffrey dead can be bought in five fucking minutes. Then do it. My brother will do it. Then tell him to do it.

You don't want that. What happened to you? So I mean, you're falling apart, making all these fucking threats, telling me this and that, that you're gonna do it! You don't want that. What happened to you? Sarmar, you're falling apart, making all these fucking threats telling me this and that, that you're gonna do this and that. Anthony, what are you talking about? Who's threatening who here? Listen, Sarmar. I love you, okay?

I'm not threatening you. The whole thing just is getting more bizarre. On top of that, another thing. As their relationship progressed and as the whole immortal plotline came to be, Anthony was getting a lot more weight. Meanwhile, Sarmo is still a vegan, and Anthony would explain to her or tell her rather, you think I like being fat? If fucking sucks, this is for you. You're supposed to be disgusted with me. This is a test. They're testing you to see if you'll love me and stay with me even if I gain weight. It's not like I want to eat like this I have to I'm fat for you because of all of this idiot city. I look forward to never being fat again. It's depressing

And he would tell Sarma that his weight gain is just temporary and that it's just a quote-unquote Meet suit when you really think about it. I don't know if that's the best thing you want to say to your vegan wife But your own bod. it's a meat soup babe. Okay. All the while this plotline is developing and I say plotline because it's kind of crazy. Anthony meets a Russian immigrant by the name of Nazim Selikov. Now, Nazim was working at a local bar that Anthony would go to all the time. I mean twice a day, sometimes four times a day. Anthony would go, order his drink, and sit there and talk about himself. It's a, you know, I used to be in the military. I've got the scars to prove it.

Some soldiers and I, we found this treasure, and while we were deployed, we buried it. I think it's about time I go back out and find it. May the best soldier win. And as Zim said, yeah, I mean, Anthony liked talking. He was really good at it. He could talk on and on and on and he just never stopped. I, um, he even asked me if I wanted to go into business with him. Uh, he said, I have this business I'm thinking of starting a juice bar.

It's gonna be insanely lucrative. I'm looking for some early investors you want in. No, Nazim saw Anthony sitting there talking and talking about his Rolex his Bentley his beautiful wife Nazim had met Sarma I mean this guy must be the real deal his wife is the owner of one lucky duck and pure food and wine Yeah, I want in so Nazim invest a hundred thousand dollars into the business Which is a lot of money and a very unlikely friendship andues. Even though the biggest red flag should have been that Nazim never signed any papers of any sorts like he just gave the money over. But I digress.

So one time Nazim got into a subway fight and he showed up to work with bruises. And then he stops by and he says, what happened to you? I just got into a subway fight. Huh? That was no regular subway fight. It's a devil. The devil? What are you talking about? The devil is talking to me. fight. Huh. That was no regular subway fight. It's the devil. The devil?

What are you talking about? The devil is talking to me. I have to go collect souls. And he just walks out. I mean, it was so strange, but Nazim stuck it out anyway. And he even became friends with Sarmat. They connected in this sense that they were both in Anthony's crazy world and we were just all living in it.

Anthony was the main character just leading them on on all these little crazy journeys. But Nizim saw a side of Anthony that, Sarma, probably knew about but didn't really see. So that was his gambling side. Oh, he loved it. Wow, sometimes Anthony would just sit there at a slot machine for hours, sometimes without even sleeping.

Everyone at the casino's already knew him. Nazeem thought, okay, it's a bit of a red flag, but this guy is super rich. So if a super rich guy wants to blow hundreds of thousands of dollars on slot machines, and that's the only way that he likes to have fun, then so be it. There are other rich guys that blow other types of money on other hobbies.

It's just kind of how Nazeem thought. It wasn't inherently bad, right? But Anthony did seem to be a little bit crazy about it. One time he would spend 67 hours playing three slot machines and roulette all at the same time. Now Nizim is really starting to second guess that $100,000 he invested. Yeah.

One time Anthony called Nizim from Florida and said, hey Nizim, I'm in Florida. So here's what happened. I stole a car, I'm on probation. Now I'm scared to fly back to New York because I think they'll arrest me at the airport. Do you think you can drive down here and give me a ride back up?

What? So Nazim goes down to help out his friend. And as they're about to go to their way to New York City, Anthony's like, wait, can you drop me off here? I feel like two seconds. Sure, but why are we stopping at a random house in Tampa? Oh, I just want to see my ex-wife and my kid. So you're like, what? Who is this Anthony character? What Shane? Anthony, what do we even call him? What's this guy?

What ex-wife? So Anthony had an ex-wife named Stacey, who was in the dock by the way, and she told her story. She said that Anthony's father, John, was a retired police officer, and I believe his mom Patricia was a stay-at-home mom, and Anthony was the only child. Now, there's not much about his childhood other than the fact that he was born in the suburbs of Boston. Oh, and his parents really didn't get along. Anthony's mom hated that her husband was addicted to gambling and alcohol, and he just

kept crossing that line. He was exposing little Anthony to gambling, and she said, nope, I'm not doing that. Patrice has said, I'm leaving, I'm putting my foot down, I'm taking the kid with me. John didn't like that. So he pulled out a gun and put it to Patrice's head. Then he put it in her mouth, and he forced her to sit on the couch with a gun pointed at her for hours. Anthony was there watching the whole thing.

And finally, when John calmly removed the gun and he walked out, of course Patricia called the police, but they didn't believe her because John was a police officer. Eventually Patricia was able to divorce him but she was denied so custody. So Anthony went back and forth between his mom and his dad but he really seemed to like his dad more. He was just the more free one, the less disciplined of the two parents. Now, the two Anthony and Stacey, they ran into each other at a gym in 2004. And at this point, Anthony is 23 living with his dad, never had a stable job, never graduated college, never really had anything going on. Stacey, on the other hand, was

a young, vulnerable, single mom, and she just said that she was done for. The minute that they met, he just had this charm, this wit wit and he essentially loved bomb her. He told her that they were meant to be together, that they were together in a previous life and they had found each other again. And within three months they got married in Vegas. I mean what's not to love, right? Anthony was a Navy seal. He even had a Navy seal ring And when Stacey met his dad, his dad talked about Anthony's Navy SEAL days. Which by the way, Stacey said that Anthony's relationship with his own dad was beyond arranged. They would always

just threaten to kill each other. And it wasn't just, I'm gonna kill you. Like, it was very specific. They talked about which knife that they were gonna use or which sword or gun. And then 20 minutes later, they'd be hee hee high and playing poker together. Speaking of poker, father and son duo would leave for days at a time to go gambling. They would road trip to Las Vegas and gamble sometimes 24 hours straight without taking a break, taking a nap, laying down. If they really wanted to sleep, they would just sleep in the car. So note, this is not your run of the mill Las Vegas

letting off some steam vacation. They definitely had gambling addictions. Anyways, Anthony kept telling her that he was gonna become a lawyer. She felt comfortable having kids with him, so they have a son together, and Anthony would abandon that son, but it got weird after the birth of their child. First of all, he was so lazy, he refused to get a job, never left the couch, Stacy did all the work, which is fine, but it's just a far, far change from what he was promising her.

He promised her he had millions, and the kids would all be trust fund babies, and he would take care of them, but now he's just laying on the couch. Anyways, after they have a kid, he once went up to her and said, do you know that you can kill a baby by giving them salt? And it's not gonna show up on the autopsy.

So she's like, what? So then Stacey started to pick up his lies here and there. She figured that he definitely wasn't a Navy seal, but his dad kept telling her, yeah, he is. I mean, she said, in your mind, you just get a little bit trippy because you just never know what to believe. But then the lies got weirder.

Anthony said that he was fighting demons and they've been hunting him his whole life and they're after me too and if I ever get a metallic taste in my mouth I need to run. In one theatrical moment they went to visit Anthony's dad and his trailer and Anthony tripped over a heating vent. Now it's very theatrical, very slow mo vibes and he stopped and he lifted up the hood of the heating vent and said oh my god Stacy. They're out to get me, there's a grenade in here, look. She looked down and sure enough there was a grenade, but it was clearly an antique with no pin in it. Like not an active grenade, like the one that you would get at Goodwill or like a thrift store.

She's like what? So he knew there was one. Yeah, this is six cents, you know? Now Anthony could never hold down a job. He just thinks he's too good to work a normal job. He would rather, you know, be the CEO of a company than work for the company, but he doesn't know how to be the CEO of a company. So sometimes Anthony would pretend to get a job

and whenever I say he dropped him off. His dad would just pick him up and the two of them would go gambling. Sometimes he'd be gone for like a month at a time and he would say I was kidnapped by the demons. And she's like I can't do this like I'm so tired to even argue we're following three months behind on our mortgage I'm pawning everything so you get some money scrapes together to put food on this table for my kids. I mean what the heck but in 2006 in 2006, she told him, it was a regular day, she told him, hey, hey, don't forget to bring the snacks to the kid's softball game. Don't be late. It's our turn to work the concession stand. Okay, yeah, I won't be late. Don't

worry. Well, Stacy never saw him again. He left her. Oh, and before he left, he stole everything that belonged to her. That might have some value. She couldn't even reach him to sign divorce papers. So Anthony is out there living his best life wearing a roll-like driving a Bentley. Stacey allegedly never got any child support or even emotional support for raising their child. She had this to say, yes Anthony can be Mr. Wonderful and sweep you off your feet. But there comes a point where your logical brain kicks in and it's like seriously?

Now back to 2014, where Anthony had Sarma wrapped around his finger. Or so he thought, Nazim actually convinced Sarma to record some of their phone conversations which is why we have a lot of them in the dock and this conversation was secretly recorded of Anthony blowing up on Sarma when she refused to wire him more money. He told her, you knew this going in. What did I say to you? I said this going and I said, if we don't go through this,

if it doesn't happen, if we don't fucking play the game, we fucking lose. I'll get gutted and you go, you go off and fucking deal with him. If we go through this though, we'll have a fortune and we'll be happy and it's good and we win.

So if I tell you to take all your money out of the bank and light it on fire, do it! Anthony kept bringing up Indiana Jones. Apparently there's this scene that Indiana Jones is standing on the edge of a cliff and there's this invisible bridge. But he has to take a leap of faith. He has to step forward onto the bridge. But all he sees is the deep ravine underneath that's for sure going to kill him so he takes a deep breath and he jumps. And what do you know? There really is a bridge. Because it's a fucking movie. She takes a deep breath and he jumps. And what do you know? There really is a bridge. Because it's a fucking movie.

But Anthony is like, Sarma, that's your life right now. You need to blindly trust me and the family. I'm sure Sarma knew, at least at the very least at this point, that he was lying, and that all of this was fake, but she probably felt like she was in too deep. She had already given him a lot lot and she had lost a lot. So between 2012 and 2014, Sarma had wired Anthony $1.7 million of business funds transferred from the investor business account to her personal accounts and then to Anthony. So this is not her money. She's playing with investors money right now. So to accept that she was scammed now was probably something that she could

not come to terms with. So going along with his fantasy and his lies was now her way of coping. I think in the beginning it's like yes she definitely was manipulated and brainwashed, but then at this point it's almost like you have to go along with it for your brain is wild. I tell you that. So then now Anthony sent her on all these other tests where he would send her off to random states or sometimes even out of the country because it was ordered by the family and while she was gone he would have her emergency staff meetings with her business and he would tell them.

Right now, Sarma is in Europe visiting a cousin and she's not coming to the meeting but the company is changing hands. On paper, yes, I'm buying pure food and wine. But don't worry, Sararm is not going anywhere, she's still running the show. This is just a move to get the company out of debt. I love my wife, I believe in what she does, and if I have to take out my own money to cover expenses, I'm gonna do it. I want to make sure that this place is great forever, and that everyone is well treated, and anything that goes against that, well, we're gonna

cut you loose because we don't want any negativity. Basically, Anthony went in there and tried to pee on everyone and everything in a certain dominance. Co-workers said that once he started working with them and inserting himself into the business, her whole business just started crumbling down like a dry sand castle. What the employees didn't know is that the end of her Europe test. Anthony told her, you need to wire me 100k. I can't do that.

I can. Then I won't have any money to pay my employees at the end of the month. Well, you need to step it up. It's all about how you handle yourself. That's what you're being judged on on that stage in the game. I know it's hard, but the trials get harder. That's just how it works. So Sarma sent him the money and managed to get a loan for her employee's paychecks.

And Anthony texted her, you did it, I'm proud of you. You're going back home on Sunday flying first class. Tell no one. But soon there was another trial. They would go to Paris. This time, the Europe trip lasted weeks. Sarma said it was like a fever dream. She saw Anthony bounce around European casinos, but I guess she wasn't in a fever dream

enough because she was posting photos of herself on social media near the Eiffel Tower. Which really pissed off her employees because she wasn't talking to them. She wasn't giving them any direction and work. It was hard. And anytime they called, she was so vague. Like, yeah, I'm in Europe right now, but I can't explain. Now, they didn't really care that much. Until they weren't paid.

And if they texted Sarma, she would just say, hey, don't spend your next paycheck because it's gonna bounce. I'm really sorry, but I'll try to clear it up by next week. Meanwhile, posting pictures of her in Europe near the Eiffel Tower. So of course, their employees are pissed. I mean, you have time to be posting selfies in Europe, but not enough time to even explain to us

what the hell is going on. And you have enough funds to be in Europe and not pay us? Now, after a while, the employees were so fed up, they staged a walk out. They held signs outside that said, no pay, no way. We do not work for free. One month back pay, many unlucky ducks. Tips are for servers, not owners.

The walk out got a lot of attention, and the restaurant was closed. Sarma didn't even find out until she got home from Europe and she said that she was crushed. In order to pay everyone their backed wages and back rent for the restaurant, she needed $850,000. Wow. Which she somehow gathered in three months from investors, which is incredible considering the amount of bad press surrounding her place. So after three months, they reopened their doors. Most of her employees decided to come back. Despite what happened, they still believed in her.

Some of them had worked for her for over a decade. They gave her the benefit of the doubt. They really trusted her. Well, is the guy still in the picture? Yeah. And even with this restaurant bad PR, they were still making a decent decent amount of money if it weren't for Anthony taking every cent and more Sarma would be making a nice profit from her business would probably have paid off her debt by now Now here's the part where Sarma loses a lot of people including me

Well, she kind of loses a lot of people including me when she stopped paying for her employees like I don't care if you want to be immortal These are people's livelihoods that you're messing with, like go be immortal on your own time. Like, you're paying to be immortal. You're paying these fees for the family so that you and your dog can live forever. It's a really, it's a really non-issue compared to people's, you know, getting evicted and not putting food on the table.

Am I crazy here? So that was like the first problem. Then this is the crazy part. So in spring of 2015, Sarmad had already transferred a lot of money from her business account to Anthony's. And Anthony comes up with this new persona by the name of Michael Caldonia. And he said that he was going to pretend to be an investor who wants to buy pure food and wine and one lucky duck.

Essentially, he would pretend that he wanted to buy everyone out, all of the current investors, and he wanted to even cover all the debt. Why is he doing that? I don't know. Apparently, this is going to get more potential investors on board if they have zero out their debt or something. So Jeffrey was helping them get potential investors. But the investors were like, oh, that's a lot of debt

on this restaurant. I'm a little bit nervous. So then now, income is Michael buying up the... Yeah. Buying up with one money. He's faking it. He's just trying to get these potential investors to buy in before the debt gets cleared. I see. Or at least that was my understanding of it, okay, listen. This is kind of a bad shit crazy plan.

Sarmat didn't see any red flags with this. What's so weird about a fake name and talking to investors, I mean it's pretty normal, right? She claimed she genuinely still believed he had money and he would buy everyone out. He just was using a fake name to protect his identity or whatever. But then she gets really hands on with the scam. She reached out to her friend slash investor, Jeffrey, which by the way she was even close to paying off her debt with him.

She still owed him $2 million and she tells him that this guy named Michael was interested in buying out her business. So she tries to set up multiple meetings with Jeffrey and Michael, but of course, you know, Michael's not showing up because it's clearly Anthony. So Jeffrey refuses to do business by the phone and now Sarma is freaking out. This isn't going to work. This is not going as planned. Jeffrey's not falling for it.

So they take out another $40,000 from the business account and at this point, Anthony tells her they gotta go. On a road trip of sorts. Now again, this is where Sarma is gonna lose most people, including me. Sarma claims that this entire period of time felt incredibly murky for her. She felt like she was going to shut down.

She never had a full grasp on the situation and she states for the people in the back, she never not once. Thought they were on the run. Which is weird considering the fact that she covered up her duck tattoo on her shoulder, and she even found a new name to go by, and a new back story for her new named husband. But again, she said, I didn't think I was on the run. She's just hemadon of it now, you know? Meanwhile, there was another walkout at her restaurant. Staff were furious, rightfully, so they hadn't been paid again. After they trusted her, they felt cheated, betrayed. To make matters worse, there were a lot of families working in the restaurant.

So, mom and kids or dad and kids weren't getting paid. Generations, like an entire household really had nothing to fall back on. Did Anthony care? No. He was too busy driving household really had nothing to fall back on. Did Anthony care? No. He was too busy driving her from one casino to the next. So of course they end up in Vegas, and Sarmas said she hated it. She tried to play poker once and she hated it, and she spent most of her time by herself in her room watching the news playing games on her iPad. When she got bored, she would go on a walk with her dog. I mean some of these next things are probably going to rub you the wrong way,

the way that they did me, but it's wild. Sarmas said, she hated that it was so frustrating to find healthy food in Vegas. She also found it frustrating that there were no bookstores or new stands. Ah, yes, ever the intellectual. Like, your employees are losing their homes, they can't put food on the table in your mat that you don't have a barns and noble nearby. But I guess we could give her the benefit of doubt and maybe some sort of coping mechanism. But she also complained that she only had summer clothes and it was gearing near winter now

and they had been on the run that long. So she had a buy-winner clothes. So we can't kind of like strange things to complain about. But maybe it's like a coping mechanism where you fixate on the small things so you don't have to face the big truth. Sometimes, Sarmat would have mental breakdowns and Anthony would film them. Sometimes she just looked catatonic.

She refused to get out of bed, she refused to eat anything, she just kept saying, what's the point? You can watch these in the dark, it's really intense. Now at this point, the couple were renting two hotel rooms everywhere they were going. Sarmat said that she was repulsed by him. Just everything about him. She didn't want to be near him at all. And then she brushed by this in the dock. I think it was a very painful memory, but it's implied that he forced her to perform Filetio.

In the next morning, he promised he would never do it again, and he brought her oatmeal from Starbucks and said, see how nice I'm being to you? I'm bringing you what you want for breakfast. Anthony was then using Sarmas phone to send her mom the videos that he took of her having mental breakdowns, and he kept telling her Sarmony's help, it's life or death, transfer me money.

Sarmas mom being super worried kept sending money, thinking that it was helping her daughter. Anthony ended up scamming about $450,000 out of her mom. Oh my gosh. In the weeks leading up to the rest, he was still out there tweeting it up though. He posted this one tweet and it's so good I want to punch him. He said, it's not that hard to make a few million dollars, so don't brag about it. And don't think that it makes you better than someone struggling because it doesn't. I mean, I get it, but what?

He even tweeted, what's the point of anything at all? And someone responded to him. That sounds like suicide talk. To which he responded, Nabra is just what happens when you get to the top of the hill and realize, now shit's just boring AF. I'm at a loss for words. Maybe it's because Anthony had won a jackpot while they were out gambling.

He had $164,000, which is nowhere near as much as how much he spent. In March 2016, after Vegas, they drove to their last stop, Pigeon Forge, Tennessee. This is a very colorful place. It's kind of got this old, tiny vibe. Tons of tourists like Vegas. So it's super easy to blend in. They stayed in a motel there for about 40 days. In separate rooms, Anthony would play Call of Duty, meanwhile Sarma would eat vegan food at a Chipotle. It just...

Then when everything went to shit. One of Sarma's biggest investors, Asparagus Trading Corporation, filed a lawsuit against them, saying that they invested into Sarma's business but it was used for improper purposes. The funds. So now they're really on the run. But ironically, the thing that would bring them down was a non-vegan dominoes pizza. Anthony ordered a pizza using his credit card and his real name.

The police intercepted, found the couple staring at the motel where they went to arrest them. They said that Sarmas started crying and it almost looked like she was relieved. The only thing that she seemed to care about was her dog. They were extra-dited to New York City where Sarmal was released on bond and nobody ever posted Anthony's bail. This is the point where Sarmas said she got a reality check. She realized Anthony had no power and worst of all, he had gone as far to scam her own parents out of $400,000. And then the reality of the you know charges of Grand Larsony hit, he had gone as far to scam her own parents out of $400,000. And then the reality of the charges of grand larceny hit, they had stolen over $6 million. This is what they owed.

Seven hundred thousand dollars to New York State sales tax, $100,000 to the IRS, $2 million to Jeffrey Chaudero, $400,000 to Sarma's parents, $1.15 million to investors, and another $1.7 million of misused funds, total debt over $6 million. During their little road trip, they spent $1 million at Foxwoods, over $100,000 at Mohogun Sun Resort, over $80,000 at luxury stores like Rolex, over $70,000 on hotels in New York City and across Europe Anthony pled guilty and was only sentenced to a year what yeah, I Know I know the chili finger looks a little bit weird now compared to this a He was free to go after a year

Sarma pled guilty to grand larceny and she was to serve four months year. Sarmah pled guilty to grand larceny and she was to serve four months. What? So the guy is free and out in the night. Oh yeah, he's out and about. Does he even need to pay the money? Since he has no money. Probably not. You know how it works. In 2018, Sarmah divorced Anthony. She also confessed that she had an affair with her attorney, which was just a wild and other saga. You can read about it in the New York Post. They have a whole article about it. The text messages were recovered and it's just a lot of sausage talk from vegans.

He was married with kids at the time, so that just makes it worse. The attorney that worked on this case. Yeah, so C. Brown ethical on his part. Sarmat is also currently still living in New York City. She hopes to open up a restaurant again one day. She actually really hates this documentary. She was actually paid over $400,000, I believe, from it. But she claims that she wasn't paid,

that it went straight to her lawyer, who then it went straight in the full amount to the lawyer representing her employees that suit her for back wages. And apparently that's the only reason that Netflix agreed to pay a subject on a true crime documentary. So I'm not really sure. She believes that New York City will take her back. And I think that they will.

I don't know about the investors. So this is, this is where it gets confusing, okay? This is where I'm really conflicted. On one hand, I understand why people sympathize with Sarma, and I really do. She had always just kind of been this super empathetic person. It seems, I mean, just everybody that knew her said that she was never like this before Anthony. So it doesn't seem like she would have done this without hint. And I mean,

I think manipulation, gaslighting, and toxic domestic relationships is something that I can't really understand because I've never been in one. So I don't think it's my space to say like, oh, that's crazy. Like I would never put up with that or like, I would think that's crazy. Because you just don't know. It's like the boiled frog. Do you really know until, whoa, which has happened. You feel like you just came out of a tornado, I'm assuming. And then you realize all the damage that you've done. Maybe it's kind of like that. I think, and on that hand, I get that Sarma was a victim,

but on the other hand, she does have victims of her own. And I do think that in the documentary, and I don't know if it's because Sarma is a very bottled person, so everybody said that she likes to keep her feelings for herself. But I would just say that in the documentary and other sources, and who knows, maybe behind the scene, she covered it up really well.

Maybe she was able, maybe she's going through the worst time of her life. But just from the outside perspective, it doesn't seem like she is very remorseful or that she shows a lot of accountability. But again, we don't know what she's been through, but I would imagine you might wanna see more of that from someone, especially when there were a lot of employees

that were fucked over. So I'm not really blaming her per se, but I am saying that she does have victims of her own. So I can't even be mad at people for being mad at her, you know? Makes sense. Now, I do think that some people think that there's something a little bit more sinister going on.

Some people do think that she was brainwashed and manipulated, but she definitely was in it for something that wasn't love either. Like what? Like someone was probably in it for money too. Like she's like, oh, this guy, like he's gonna give me a lot of money, he is very wealthy, it wasn't just love.

So some people think maybe it's a situation where she thought that she was gonna play him. She thought that she was gonna marry him, live this amazing, comfortable life, and she just kept believing in it, but I don't really know. So the thing with that is, what did she really get out of this? I mean, it's really hard to believe what she got out of it

because before this, she had her dream, yeah, she had $2 million in debt, but she had a plan. She had a thing that was working So well, I mean it was almost it was almost hey, just follow these rules and you'll make it This one's just weird I also find it really hard to believe that she doesn't think that they were on the run So I think she actually came to a lot sooner than she says. Yeah. But I don't know. There was also a recorded phone call that played

at the end of the documentary that caused quite a bit of stir. It was a phone conversation between Sarmann and Anthony in 2019. So not that long ago. And it's just fascinating hearing that. They're still in contact. So they said that the producers say that they're not in contacts, but this was like a random call. But that's recorded. I just, it's weird hearing them because I can't imagine talking to someone like that after what happened, but maybe she's just a lot more

empathetic and nice than I am. She said Anthony starts off with, hello. Hi, can you hear me? Yeah, I can hear you. I was, I almost texted you, you know, I miss you. I do miss you. And Sarma makes a little gagging noise. And he says, really? Yeah, that's my response. You realize you do have to step out of that meat suit and a pair on a unicorn. I know that. And it's already in the works in my mind. There will be something. So what, you're gonna shape shift in front of me? I mean, come on, you know I'm serious.

I know you are. Well, I can still make you laugh, so that's good. Yeah, no, it's not good. Yeah, it is. In a long period of time I've been all over the world in a bunch of different places met all sorts of people over the years And I love you you're the smartest person that I've ever met okay, and you're the most beautiful thing ever It fucking pisses me off because you're right

It was really good hearing your voice All right, Sam good night Good night So it's arm, good night. Good night. So it's, ah. Are they still like? That's what a lot of people speculated, but she did come out on Instagram and say that that that was completely misinterpreted. She's just a nice person and like they're not in contact. She would never have contact with him.

She just doesn't hold grudges. Which makes sense too. So I mean, it's hard because I'm just trying to, I'm just trying to really understand. I think maybe either she really is somebody who bottles up all of her feelings. She is super empathetic. She wanted to give in the money.

She really fell in love with this guy. And you know what, love makes you do dumb, dumb things. And maybe behind the scenes, she is beating herself up, tearing herself apart about, you know, screwing over the scenes she is beating herself up, tearing herself apart about, you know, screwing over these employees who trusted her since day one. Maybe it's not, or maybe, hey, she was a victim, but she also had victims of her own and she's trying to move on with her life. I don't know which one it is.

It's hard to say. One of Sarma's employees that wasn't paid just once to ask her. Was it all worth it? Was what you were looking for? Was it all worth ruining what you had? And that's the story of the Bad Vegan. It's not what I expected. I thought she'd be selling meat. Little disappointed? No, but just I definitely thought she was selling meat. Like she's got to be a little meat eater. She's not. She did eat chicken twice a week in prison. She admitted to. So I hope you guys enjoyed this week's main episode and I will see you guys on Sunday for the mini-sode.

What are your thoughts on this one? I need to know. See you guys on. Bye! What are your thoughts on this one I need to know? See you guys then, bye!