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How A Fake Heiress Scammed New York's Elite Out Of $275,000

The tale of Anna "Delvey" Sorokin

By Eleanor GraysunPublished 2 years ago 7 min read
Top Story - March 2022
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Anna Sorokin in 2021 | Source: Instagram

Picture the scene, a young woman exits a black chauffeur-driven Bentley. She’s dressed head-to-toe in couture, her hair is professionally blow-dried and you observe her walking purposefully towards the entrance of an upscale boutique hotel.

Imagine you’re a bystander observing the scene she creates, as the hotel concierge greets her warmly.

You think to yourself that “Perhaps she’s one of the many socialites that frequent New York’s Upper West Side, or perhaps she’s the daughter of a Russian oligarch on vacation in New York or even a socialite from a prominent old-moneyed family.”

What if I were to reveal to you that this young woman - decked out head-to-toe in couture isn’t a Russian oligarch’s daughter, isn’t a real socialite, nor is she a Vanderbilt, a Hilton, or a Rothschild…

Meet Anna, the Russian-born fake heiress, who at the age of 26, scammed $275,000 out of New York’s elite society and tried to extort even more. This is the saga, the trial, and the tribulations of Anna Sorokin.

The Beginning.

Born Anna Sorokin on January 23, 1991. At the tender age of 19, Anna left her family home in Eschweiler Germany to move to Paris. While in Paris, she landed an internship at fashion and culture publication “Purple” and altered her surname from Sorokin to Delvey.

Three years later, having failed to establish societal connections in Paris, Anna was keen to make a fresh start which was why when her employer at “Purple” offered her a temporary assignment in New York, Anna excitedly accepted the opportunity.

In my opinion, I believe that Anna saw a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

An opportunity not just to photograph models at New York fashion week (as was the purpose of her assignment) but also to pursue her path into high society,

A path that was the driving factor behind her move from Eschweiler to Paris, to begin with.

To Anna’s delight, New York’s elite society welcomed her with open arms and within the span of her brief assignment, she arrived at a life-changing decision.

For Anna, Paris now offered nothing but bad memories – she’d ended her last romantic relationship there and had few friends to call upon.

In contrast, New York was different, people were intrigued by Anna when they met her. With her German-Russian accent, the embellished stories she told about her background and the clothes she wore.

For New York’s elite Anna was novel, mysterious, and a breath of fresh air.

As you can imagine, on receiving such a warm reception, Anna likely thought “Yes, I’ve finally arrived in the City where I’m destined to make it into elite society!”

The Benjamins.

Shortly after her arrival, Anna left “Purple” and her journey into a life of wire fraud and larceny rapidly commenced.

Anna’s first foray into scamming the wealthy began with booking extended stays at upscale hotels in Manhattan. On arrival, Anna was a generous tipper, handing hundred-dollar bills to hotel staff and feeding the illusion to everyone around her that she hailed from a wealthy German family.

According to Anna’s version of events, which was later recalled during her trial (more on the trial later), Anna didn’t hesitate to tell her new friends, hotel staff and business associates that her father was extremely wealthy and was funding her extravagant lifestyle.

Of course, this was all a ruse. Her hotel bills went unpaid, despite repeated reminders from the hotel management that she needed to pay or else face eviction. And therein lay Anna’s grift.

Right: Anna "Delvey" Sorokin

She would deposit cheques at a bank, then immediately cash out the cheque before it bounced. Then she’d rinse and repeat.

With the cash in hand, Anna was able to gift her newfound friends. Anna’s “generosity” included gifting her friends designer items and luxury excursions spending money she’d neither owned nor earned. She did all of this in her quest to fuel the illusion that she was indeed a wealthy German heiress.

The Anna Delvey Foundation.

In what was her most audacious scam, Anna convinced senior commercial financing lawyer Andy Lance that she needed at least $20 million to fund her new concept, the Anna Delvey Foundation or ADF for short.

Essentially, ADF was meant to become a private members club that would showcase fine art, in the form of pop-up exhibitions.

After her application for $25 million was rejected by Citi National Bank, the bank still agreed to grant Anna a line of credit in the region of $100,000.

Undeterred, Anna applied to private equity firm Fortress to loan her $22 million to finance ADF. In order to secure the financing for ADF, Anna forged financial statements falsely claiming a net worth that was pure fiction.

When the forged financial statements were flagged by the loan vetting team at Fortress, Anna was asked (by the team) to provide further verification of her financial standing which at the time she claimed was 60 million euros.

In reaction, Anna used a voice distortion app alongside a burner phone to mimic her fictitious Swiss-based wealth manager. Of course, her ruse to extort $22 million failed, and Anna was back to scamming luxury hotels and resorts once more.

The Reckoning.

By July 2017 Anna’s reputation as a hotel scammer had spread across Manhattan. Now, whenever she attempted to check-in, she found herself blacklisted from the upscale hotels that had previously welcomed her warmly.

Unable to check-in anywhere within the Manhattan district, Anna was effectively homeless.

With bounced checks, maxed-out credit cards, and unpaid hotel bills, the walls were closing in on Anna.

In that same year, following a police report filed by her former friend Rachel Williams alongside a charge of wire fraud issued by the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office, a warrant for her arrest was granted.

Source: Instagram

In response, Anna fled to California. However, in October 2017 she was arrested in Malibu in a sting operation orchestrated by the Manhattan District Office in collaboration with the LAPD, and former friend Rachel Williams. After her arrest, Anna was transported to Rikers Island Jail in New York City to await trial for a number of financial-related indictments including grand larceny and wire fraud.

The Trial.

With the prospect of facing a maximum prison sentence of up to 15 years, on March 20, 2019, Anna stood trial on ten counts including grand larceny, wire fraud, cheque fraud, theft of services, and a number of other financial-related charges.

With Judge Diane Kiesel presiding over the proceedings, the first day of the trial was delayed due to Anna’s erratic behavior. While in custody, she'd also gained a reputation for instigating fights and disobeying jail wardens. In truth, Anna was notorious for her truculent behavior.

The first week of the trial was no different. This time, Anna was upset about her wardrobe. Displaying the airs and graces of a Spanish Infanta, Anna rejected the standard-issue wardrobe that Rikers had provided and demanded that she be given more designer-worthy attire.

Anna’s defense lawyer Todd Spodek had little choice but to plead with the presiding Judge to award more time for Anna to ready herself for each court appearance.

As you can imagine, this diva behavior did not endear Anna to the courtroom. Least of all to the jury, the court marshalls, and the presiding Judge.

Nevertheless, Anna got her way by wrangling a personal stylist to curate a designer wardrobe for her court appearances.

Anna Sorokin stands trial - March 2019 | Source: Instagram

On reflection, I believe that Anna’s diva behavior had been enabled by her lawyer and everyone she‘d come into contact with since her arrival in New York. It seemed that no one could say “no” to Anna.

On April 25, 2019, the jury found Anna guilty on 8 counts which included grand theft, second-degree theft, and misuse of services - which included an incident where she stole a private jet.

Two weeks later she was sentenced to serve 4 to 12 years in prison.

Fast forward to February 2021, Anna was released on parole. However, instead of keeping a low profile, Anna hired a film crew to vlog her daily life. In addition, she posted regular life updates on Instagram.

Six weeks later, after her release from prison, her self-publicity backfired when her Instagram geotags alerted the U.S. immigration authority, ICE. It later transpired that Anna’s U.S. visa had expired and she was incarcerated by ICE for being an illegal alien.

As of March 2022, Anna remains in the custody of ICE awaiting deportation. And if the plot to Anna’s story couldn’t get any weirder, she along with 3 other ICE inmates has filed a class-action lawsuit against ICE. And the justification for the class action lawsuit?

Anna and the other participants are suing the U.S. immigration authority for providing an unsafe environment for people aged 55+ in the wake of Covid.

In my opinion, Anna’s participation in this class-action lawsuit is somewhat rich, given the fact that at the time of writing, Anna Sorokin is 31 years old...

Author: Ella Graysun

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About the Creator

Eleanor Graysun

Former technical writer. Now reigniting my love affair with creative writing.

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Nice work

Very well written. Keep up the good work!

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