Who is Anna Delvey?
In 1991, the infamous Anna Delvey was born “Anna Sorokin” in a small town in Russia. At the age of 16, she moved along with her family to Germany. After graduation, she started serving as an intern at “Purple” a well-known fashion magazine in Paris. It was at this point that she took on the persona of “Anna Delvey”, and transferred to the New York Office of Purple magazine for better exposure in the socialite life. Here Sorokin truly began her journey as a wealthy German Heiress, which included making the right friends, scamming the right people, and generally living a luxurious life.
With countless fake bank accounts, credit cards and tricks up her sleeve, the 28-year-old con artist managed to look and live much wealthier than she actually was. At the rare times, she was confronted, she managed to produce fraudulent checks and slips, and these documents, accompanied by her unnerving confidence was what kept her ruse successful. Sorokin also became known as a very generous tipper, a trick on which she commented that people are willing to believe you have a lot of money if you are generous with the small amount you have.
Despite the cleverness and confidence, her fake identity could not last long, the downfall of Anna Sorokin began with Hotel 11 Howard in SoHo, where the management confronted her for payment and in the absence of a valid credit card, she was promptly evicted. A while after this incident, she invited, among other friends; Rachel Williams (A photo editor at Vanity Fair) for an “all-expenses-paid” trip at a five-star hotel in Marrakesh. After their luxurious stay at this hotel, the management claimed that Sorokin’s card was invalid. Sorokin convinced Williams to pay for the bill with the promise that she would pay her back soon, which, as you guessed, did not happen.
Upon her return to New York City, Sorokin was evicted from yet another hotel and all her scams started to catch up to her when two hotels and one Manhattan District Attorney’s Office pressed charges against her for theft of services and she finally got arrested in a sting operation, courtesy of Rachel Williams.
In 2019, the fake German heiress came upon trial was found guilty of eight charges, including grand larceny in the second degree, attempted grand larceny, and theft of services. An estimated stolen amount was said to be about $275,000.
Sorokin received a sentence of 4 to 12 years in state prison, was fined $24,000, and ordered to pay restitution of approximately $199,000. However, Sorokin was released from her prison sentence in February 2021, only to be detained 6 weeks later for overstaying her visa, where she still awaits conviction.
But Anna Sorokin’s story is not just about a convicted con artist, she was an enigmatic woman of many talents and ideas who gave new heights to the term “fake it till you make it”. Sorokin’s life is filled with, (and continues to be filled with) incredible facts and incidents, let’s look into some of them;
The Netflix deal and Son of Sam Law
Netflix paid Anna Sorokin a vast amount of $320,000 for the rights to her life story, out of which she used $199,000 to pay restitution to the banks, plus another $24,000 to settle state fines. The series took four years to make and Sorokin gave the following comment on the show based on her;
“While I’m curious to see how they interpreted all the research, I can’t help but feel like an afterthought, the somber irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself.”
However, this fund provided by Netflix was frozen soon after due to the “Son of Sam” law, a law that was passed after a serial killer was offered a generous amount to be paid for a memoir of his killings. This law was is used to prevent criminals from profiting from their crimes. But because Sorokin had to pay off her victims, The County Judge allowed her to use these funds.
The Letter to Donald Trump
Yes, It’s true, Anna Sorokin did in fact write a very interesting and satirical letter to Donald Trump. She titled it “Rikers Island 101 for Donald Trump,” and published it on her website. The reason for writing this letter was that Trump is currently facing multiple legal battles after leaving the White House and being a “model prisoner” she claimed that she feels compelled to help him live his best life in prison. In this letter she wrote, “if I can do it, so, most likely, can you.” And then Sorokin proceeded to give all sorts of tips to Trump, such as avoiding certain prison foods and in her words “host a jail comedy workshop, or commit to a humorous weekly column for ‘Rikers News from the Inside.’”
Anna’s mysterious boyfriend
The audience of inventing Anna was infinitely curious about the character of “chase” who played Anna’s boyfriend in the series. They wondered who was the real ted-talking futurist on which Chase’s character was based. And Miss Sorokin naturally saw this speculation as an opportunity and ended up writing the following post on her Instagram account,: “Want to know who the real “Chase” is? The media outlet with the highest bid gets the exclusive. Bids start at $10k. DM to bid.”
However, multiple sources who were in the acquaintance of Anna Delvey asserted that she used to date a tech entrepreneur by the name of Hunter Lee Soik, and he possibly, (and unknowingly), played an important role in her strengthening her status as a wealthy heiress.
According to an article published in the cut, Anna and her boyfriend dated for two years. The articles mention that “They’d been kind of like a team, showing up in places frequented by the itinerant wealthy, living out of fancy hotels and hosting scenery dinners where the Futurist talked up his app and Delvey spoke of the private club she wanted to open once she turned 25 and came into her trust fund.”
The Intriguing Personality of Anna Delvey
It was not only her cunning brain that Anna Delvey managed to scam countless people, it was also something about her personality. Emily Palmer, A reporter at New York times, says that Delvey had this sort of aura about her, she was intriguing and she used that for her actions.
Despite having countless interviews, documentaries, and even a series made about her, the personality of Anna Delvey or Sorokin remains as mysterious as ever. Shonda Lynn Rhimes, the mastermind creator, and producer of Netflix trending series “Inventing Anna” shared with Netflix’s Tulum that she still finds Sorokin to be ‘unknowable’ even after building a whole series around her.
The Impeccable Courtroom Fashion of Anna Delvey
If Sorokin ever writes a guide for being a fake heiress, having impeccable fashion sense would top the list. Anna Sorokin never failed to look anything but gorgeous, be it at a hotel, a party, or even a courtroom. GQ noted that her trial was “her final chance to play dress-up” before she was found her way into the prison.
A courtroom reporter during Anna’s trial said that she saw a paper bag “filled with wardrobe rejects.” These included an Ann Taylor blue dress, a button-down Gap shirt, and J. Crew black pants.
