Anna Sorokin (Russian: Анна Сорокина; born 23 January 1991) is a German convicted con artist^[4] and fraudster. Between 2013 and 2017 she pretended to be a wealthy heiress under the name Anna Delvey, and in 2017, she was arrested after allegedly defrauding banks, hotels, and acquaintances in the United States of a total of $275,000. She was convicted in New York of multiple counts of attempted grand larceny, larceny in the second degree, and theft of services in 2019. A television adaptation of her story titled Inventing Anna was developed by Netflix. She is currently held in custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Early life

Sorokin was born on 23 January 1991 in Domodedovo, a working-class satellite town south of Moscow.^[5] There, her father, Vadim, worked as a truck driver while her mother owned a small convenience store. The family relocated to North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany in 2007, when Anna was 16, seeking a better life. There, her father became an executive at a transport company until it became insolvent in 2013, after which he opened an HVAC business specializing in efficient energy use and her mother became a housewife.^[6] In Germany, her father faced rumors that he was a member of a Russian mob.^[7] She attended the Bischöfliche Liebfrauenschule Eschweiler, a girls' gymnasium in Eschweiler. She was described by peers there as a quiet girl who had a difficult time with the German language.^[6] As a young adult, Sorokin obsessively followed Vogue, fashion blogs, and image accounts on LiveJournal and Flickr.^[8]

After graduating from the gymnasium in June 2011, Sorokin moved to London to attend Central Saint Martins, an art school, but soon dropped out and returned to Germany.^[8] In 2012, she was briefly an intern at a public relations company in Berlin, before relocating to Paris to begin an internship for Purple, a French fashion magazine, where she earned €400/month (about $450).^[9][10] Her parents subsidized her rent,^[10][6] although she did not keep in touch with her parents often.^[8][6] At that time, she started calling herself "Anna Delvey" which she claimed was based on her mother's maiden name; however, her parents have said that they "do not recognize the surname".^[10] Sorokin later said about the name that she "just came up with it".^[11]

Life as a fake heiress and fraud offenses

In the summer of 2013, after ending a relationship, Sorokin traveled to New York City to attend New York Fashion Week. Finding it easier to make friends in New York than Paris, she opted to stay, transferring to Purple's New York office for a brief time.^[10] Some time after quitting Purple, she invented the idea of the "Anna Delvey Foundation" – a private members' club and art foundation – and unsuccessfully sought funding from wealthy members of the city's social scene. Her proposal included leasing the entire Church Missions House, comprising 6 floors and 45,000 square feet and owned by Aby Rosen's RFR Holdings, as a multi-purpose events venue and art studio, where she planned a visual arts center with pop-up shops curated by artist Daniel Arsham, one of her acquaintances from her internship, and exhibitions by Urs Fischer, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Tracey Emin.^[6] She received planning help from the son of architect Santiago Calatrava.^[12] She also discussed the sale of drinks at the venue with Roo Rogers.^[13]

In the summer of 2014, at a hotel party in Montauk, New York, Sorokin pretended to be a wealthy heiress, yet asked other partygoers for a place to sleep. She was found the next morning sleeping in a car. Similarly, at other parties, she would awkwardly brag about her wealth and the brands of clothes that she was wearing but would ask others to pay for her drinks.^[15]

In 2015, Sorokin met art collector and University of Pennsylvania student Michael Xufu Huang at a dinner party. Upon learning that Huang planned to attend the Venice Biennale, Sorokin asked him if she could accompany him. Huang agreed and booked a flight and hotel room for Sorokin on the understanding that he would be reimbursed for the $2,000-$3,000 cost. Upon their return to New York, Sorokin appeared to "forget" the arrangement and failed to pay.^[14] Huang initially assumed that Sorokin was simply absent-minded. In 2015, Sorokin also attended Art Basel in Miami. Sorokin hired a public relations firm to book a birthday party for herself at Sadelle's restaurant in January 2016; after her credit card was declined and pictures of Huang at the event were posted on social media, Huang was asked by restaurant staff if he had Sorokin's contact details. At this time, Huang became suspicious of Sorokin, also noticing that she strangely always paid with cash and lived in a hotel, not an apartment.^[6] He was eventually repaid but from a Venmo account by an unfamiliar name, then blocked Sorokin on social media, ending their friendship.^[14]

In February 2016, while Sorokin was living in a hotel room in The Standard, High Line, she met Rachel DeLoache Williams, then a photo editor at Vanity Fair, at a nightclub. Williams described Sorokin as "demanding and rude to waitstaff" and said that "when an elevator opened, she wouldn’t wait for other people to get off". Nevertheless, Williams became close friends with Sorokin and was later instrumental in her arrest.^[4]

Sorokin used Microsoft Word to create fake bank statements and other financial documents purporting to show that she had €60 million (about $68 million^[9]) in Swiss bank accounts but could not access them since they were in trust and she was in the U.S.^[6][12][10] One of Sorokin's acquaintances put her in touch with a lawyer at Gibson Dunn, who put her in touch with several large financial institutions, including City National Bank and Fortress Investment Group.^[6] In November 2016, Sorokin submitted false documents as part of a loan application for $22 million to City National.^[16] City National refused to extend credit when Sorokin failed to provide the source of the Swiss assets, and she then applied for a loan from Fortress. Fortress agreed to consider the application if Sorokin paid $100,000 to cover legal expenses relating to the application. In December 2016, with Sorokin unable to pay rent, the Church Missions House was instead leased to Fotografiska New York.^[6] On January 12, 2017, Sorokin convinced City National to grant her a temporary overdraft facility for $100,000, on the promise that it would be repaid quickly. Sorokin provided fake AOL email addresses of "Peter Hennecke", a non-existent business manager; when suspicions arose, Sorokin claimed that he died and invented a new persona, "Bettina Wagner".^[6][16] Prosecutors in her trial later showed that she had used Google Search to query "create fake untraceable email".^[12] Sorokin remitted the $100,000 to Fortress for the loan application but a managing director at Fortress became suspicious of Sorokin's application due to discrepancies in her paperwork ― for example, she claimed to be of German heritage, but her passport showed her as being born in Russia. When the director arranged to verify Sorokin's assets by meeting her bankers in Switzerland, she withdrew the loan application to prevent further scrutiny. In February 2017, the $55,000 portion of the overdraft not spent by Fortress as part of the due diligence process was returned to Sorokin.^[16][6] Sorokin then spent lavishly on luxury clothes, electronics, and a personal trainer as well as $800 hair highlighting and $400 eyelash extensions.^[6]

On February 18, 2017, Sorokin checked into a $400/night room at the 11 Howard hotel in Soho, Manhattan.^[6] She often gave a $100 cash gratuity to the concierge, whom she befriended, and other employees for simple tasks such as restaurant recommendations or bringing packages to her room.^[6] However, most of the staff found Sorokin to be annoying and described her comments as impolite and classist.^[6] Sorokin became comfortable in the hotel and regularly walked around in leggings or a hotel robe, often dining at Le Coucou, the hotel restaurant, where Sorokin befriended chef Daniel Rose^[4] and billed the cost of her meals to her room.^[6] She treated the concierge to massages, manicures, and sessions with a personal trainer.^[6] After management discovered that there was no credit card on file for Sorokin, they insisted that she settle her $30,000 bill. Sorokin had a bottle of 1975 Dom Pérignon champagne delivered to the concierge desk in an attempt to keep the staff on her side; however, hotel policy prevented the staff from keeping the gift.^[6] By March 2017, one month after receiving the $55,000 remaining from her loan application fee, due to her lavish spending, Sorokin had run out of money. She then would offer to take friends out for drinks and dinner but when it was time to pay the bill, she would claim that she had forgotten her credit cards or her credit cards would not work.^[16] By this time, Sorokin was very active in the New York social scene; she attended dinner parties where she met Macaulay Culkin and Martin Shkreli.^[6] She toured multi-million dollar apartments with over-eager realtors.^[4]

In April 2017, Sorokin deposited $160,000 worth of fraudulent checks into a Citibank account, of which she was able to retrieve $70,000 in usable funds.^[2] She then wired $30,000 to 11 Howard to pay the outstanding bill.^[6]

In May 2017, by sending a forged wire transfer confirmation slip from Deutsche Bank for the $35,390 fee, Sorokin booked a return charter flight on a business jet via Blade to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual general meeting of Berkshire Hathaway with the goal of meeting Warren Buffett.^[6][17] Sorokin had met Blade CEO Robert S. Wiesenthal at a party, who allegedly vouched for her, although Wiesenthal later said that he didn't know her at all.^[6] Wiesenthal reported her to the police in August 2017 after repeated failure to pay.^[17] Sorokin later claimed that, during the trip, she snuck in to a private party at the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium where she mingled with Bill Gates.^[18]

Since Sorokin still refused to provide a credit card to the 11 Howard hotel, while she was in Omaha, the entry code on her hotel room was changed, and her belongings were placed in storage.^[6] As retribution, using a tactic she learned from Martin Shkreli, she purchased the domain names corresponding to the names of the hotel managers and emailed them asking for a ransom of $1 million each.^[4] With the help of her friend Rachel DeLoache Williams, after three months of living at 11 Howard, Sorokin moved to The Mercer Hotel.^[4] Sorokin also stayed two nights at The Bowery Hotel, sending the hotel a fake wire transfer receipt from Deutsche Bank.^[6]

In May 2017, Sorokin invited Williams, as well as her personal trainer and her videographer on what she said was an "all-expenses-paid" journey to Morocco, supposedly because she needed to "reset" her Electronic System for Travel Authorization (ESTA). Inspired by Khloé Kardashian, Sorokin booked a $7,000/night riad with three bedrooms, a private swimming pool, and a dedicated butler at La Mamounia, a 5-star luxury hotel in Marrakesh, with plans to make "a behind-the-scenes documentary" on the creation of her foundation. However, after a few days, staff said that they were unable to charge Sorokin's credit cards and demanded an alternative form of payment. Sorokin gave excuses, blaming people for typing the numbers in wrong or the systems for being down.^[19] The lack of a credit card on file led to a hotel staff member being fired.^[4] Sorokin convinced Williams to pay the $62,000 bill, which was more than a year of net salary for Williams,^[4][6] using her work and personal credit cards, with a promise to reimburse her via wire transfer. Williams had paid for the flights using her credit card, with promises by Sorokin to be reimbursed, and later paid for other expenses during the trip, including items purchased by Sorokin and a private tour of Majorelle Garden.^[12] Despite repeated promises from Sorokin, and one excuse after another,^[4] Williams was only repaid $5,000^[6] and needed to borrow money from friends to pay her rent as she only had $410 in her checking account at the time.^[4] American Express later removed the charges on her credit cards.^[12][4] After contacting other acquaintances who also lent money to Sorokin and were not repaid, and who all had heard different backstories on Sorokin's parents' alleged wealth, Williams realized that Sorokin was committing fraud.^[4]

In Morrocco, Sorokin also stayed at Kasbah Tamadot, a Virgin Limited Edition luxury hotel^[4] and at the Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts in Casablanca, where she asked her personal trainer, who had already returned to New York due to a foodborne illness, to pay for the room.^[6] When the trainer also offered to pay for a flight back to New York for Sorokin, Sorokin asked for first class travel.^[6] Sorokin drank fine wines and the most expensive champagnes and took a helicopter to the airport in Casablanca.^[19] Upon returning to New York later in May, Sorokin relocated to the Beekman Hotel, moving her belongings in a likely rented Tesla car.^[6] Twenty days later, in June 2017, having accumulated a bill of $11,518 and failing to pay despite repeated promises, she was evicted. She then attempted a similar scam at the hotel W New York Union Square, failing to pay her $503.76 bill; she was evicted after two days and charged with theft of services.^[6][20] By July 5, Sorokin was homeless; she then interrupted her personal trainer in the middle of a date, crying and pressuring her into providing lodging.^[6] She also asked Williams for lodging, again in a crying tantrum; Williams refused.^[4] Sorokin also tried to "dine and dash" at the restaurant at the Le Parker Meridien hotel; when caught, she claimed to police that she could get a friend to pay the bill in 5 minutes.^[6] At this time, Sorokin was also being investigated by the Manhattan District Attorney's Office for bank fraud.^[4]

On August 17 and 21, 2017, Sorokin allegedly deposited two bad checks worth $15,000 into her account at Signature Bank and over the next few days, she withdrew approximately $8,200 in cash before the checks were returned.^[21]

Indictment and arrest

Sorokin was arrested on October 3, 2017 in a sting operation planned by Michael McCaffrey, a police officer with the New York Police Department working with the Manhattan District Attorney's office. At the time, Sorokin was staying at Passages Malibu, a luxury rehab/addiction treatment facility near the beach in Los Angeles County, California. Officer McCaffrey had Rachel Williams, Sorokin's former friend, arrange a lunch meeting at a restaurant near the facility in order to convince Sorokin to leave. When Sorokin left the facility, she was arrested by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department.^[22][23] Sorokin was indicted by Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance Jr. later that month on two counts of attempted grand larceny in the first degree, three counts of grand larceny in the second degree, one count of grand larceny in the third degree, and one count of misdemeanor theft of services for the fraudulent loan applications made to City National and Fortress, the check fraud, the cost of the trip to Morocco, and the unpaid hotel and restaurant bills.^[12]

Trial, conviction and sentence

On December 18, 2018, Sorokin appeared in New York City Criminal Court and rejected a plea deal that offered three to nine years in prison. A trial started on March 20, 2019, presided over by Judge Diane Kiesel.^[16]

At her request, Sorokin's defense attorney arranged for a professional wardrobe stylist to source outfits for her court appearances.^[24][25] On the Friday of the trial, Sorokin refused to enter the courtroom because she didn't want to appear in her prison-issued clothing and her civilian outfit for the day "had not been pressed"; however, after a crying tantrum and delaying the trial for an hour and a half, she was forced to appear by the judge.^[26][27]

In the trial, Sorokin's lawyer defended her by saying that her intent all along was to repay the debt and that services were given to her in exchange for publicity on Instagram. He described her as an entrepreneur with a comparison to Frank Sinatra, claiming they both created a "golden opportunity" in New York.^[13]

On April 25, 2019, after deliberating for two days due to one dissenting juror, the jury found Sorokin guilty of eight charges, including grand larceny in the second degree, attempted grand larceny, and theft of services. Sorokin was found not guilty of two other charges: one of attempted grand larceny in the first degree relating to the original loan application with City National, and one of larceny in the second degree relating to the alleged theft of $62,000 from Rachel Williams in Marrakesh.^[16][28]

In an interview before her sentencing, Sorokin said that "I’d be lying to you and to everyone else and to myself if I said I was sorry for anything".^[19] On May 9, 2019, Sorokin was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in state prison, fined $24,000, and ordered to pay restitution of $199,000, including $100,000 to City National, $70,000 to Citibank, and approximately two-thirds of the amount owed to Blade.^[29][30] These amounts, as well as approximately $75,000 in legal fees related to the trial, were paid from proceeds of Sorokin's $320,000 deal with Netflix; the court allowed Sorokin to keep the remaining $22,000.^[31] Sorokin was not forced to pay the $160,000 in legal fees owed to Perkins Coie related to the unsuccessful lease of Church Missions House, $65,000 in legal fees due to Gibson Dunn related to the unsuccessful $22 million loan application, and $30,000 in legal fees due to Lowenstein Sandler.^[32]

Sorokin was incarcerated at Rikers Island during the trial, where she had 13 infractions for misbehavior such as fighting and disobeying orders and was placed into solitary confinement during Christmas.^[10] After the trial, Sorokin, inmate #19G0366 of the New York State Department of Corrections,^[33] was initially housed at Bedford Hills Correctional Facility for Women before being transferred to Albion Correctional Facility.^[23][34]

On February 11, 2021, Sorokin was released from prison on parole.^[35] After her release from prison, she checked in to The NoMad hotel and hired a German camera crew to follow her and film her activities.^[1] Six weeks later, in March 2021, she was taken back into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her visa. She is currently being held in a New Jersey county jail by ICE awaiting deportation to Germany, which she is legally contesting.^[3][36] In January 2022, she tested positive for COVID-19 in prison and was placed in quarantine. An immigration judge ruled that if Sorokin was freed, she "would have the ability and inclination to continue to commit fraudulent and dishonest acts".^[37]

Media representation

In 2018, after an article by Jessica Pressler on Sorokin was published in New York, Netflix paid Sorokin $320,000 for the rights to her life story.^[38][39] However, the New York Attorney General's office sued Sorokin in 2019 using the state's Son of Sam law, which prohibits those convicted of a crime from profiting from its publicity and forced the majority of these funds to be used to pay restitution and fines per the judgment.^[40] Netflix's 9-episode series titled Inventing Anna created by Shonda Rhimes was released in February 2022 and was the most watched program on Netflix during the week it was released. Julia Garner played Sorokin and met with Sorokin in jail to prepare for the part.^[41]

In July 2019, My Friend Anna, a book written by Rachel DeLoache Williams, was published by Gallery Publishing Group, an imprint of Simon & Schuster,^[42] as well as by Quercus in the UK and Goldmann in Germany. Williams received $300,000 for the book, in which she details her experiences with Sorokin, including how the trip to Marrakesh affected her financially and mentally.^[12][43] HBO and screenwriter Lena Dunham paid Williams $35,000 for an option to the television rights to Williams' story, with another $300,000 payment due if the option is exercised.^{[12][44][33][45]}

In December 2019, BBC Radio 4 presented Fake Heiress, a partially dramatized 6-episode podcast series about Sorokin.^[46]

In February 2021, Sorokin was the subject of an episode of American Greed by CNBC.^[47]

In April 2021, Sorokin was the subject of an episode of Generation Hustle by HBO Max.^[48]

In late July and early August 2021, Anna X, a stage play, inspired by Sorokin's story, by Joseph Charlton starring Emma Corrin and Nabhaan Rizwan ran at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London and The Lowry in Salford.^[49]

In October 2021, on an episode of 20/20, Sorokin was interviewed by Deborah Roberts while in ICE custody.^[50]

In 2022, Sorokin signed a deal with Bunim/Murray Productions to star in a reality television series about her life after prison.^[51] She is also working on a book about her time in jail and a podcast.^[52]

Personal life

Sorokin maintains social media accounts, which she has described as satire, on Twitter and Instagram.^[36] Through Instagram, she connected with Julia Fox, with whom she is planning a collaboration.^[36] In January 2021, Sorokin penned a sarcastic public letter to Donald Trump in which she anticipates him also becoming a prisoner at Rikers Island.^[53] Sorokin had a boyfriend in New York for 2 years until he moved to the United Arab Emirates. His identity has been kept secret, although Sorokin has disclosed that her boyfriend has given TED talks and was profiled in The New Yorker and that she would reveal his identity for a fee, with bidding starting at $10,000.^[6][52] In 2019, Sorokin made investments in technology and cryptocurrency. At that time, her aspirations included running an investment fund.^[10] While in detention, Sorokin has tried to help people who are detained by ICE but do not speak the English language or cannot afford an immigration lawyer.^[36]

See also

• List of con artists

References

External links

• Anna Sorokin at IMDb