Meet Anna Delvey, The Con Artist Who's The Inspiration Behind Web Series 'Inventing Anna'

Ever met someone at a high-profile party, who claims to know every celebrity known to mankind? Ever met someone at such parties who lives an extravagant lifestyle and yet no one knows what they do for a living? Ever known someone who¡¯s social media accounts are filled with pictures of a jet-setting life, poses with celebrities and socialites, yet there is a certain amount of a mystery surrounding them? Well, the chances are, that this person could be a con man or a con woman and that they might have spun yarns about their personal lives and you might have been caught in their web of lies.

Such people are found in every city that houses high-net worth individuals. In a digital age where all our personal information is just a click away, people still are able to carry on their made-up personas.

The Anna Sorokins of the world are the ¡® life of the parties¡¯, boast of hailing from influential families, keep on name-dropping and have an air of elusiveness and mysticism around them.

However, no one really knows what they do for a living or where they live. They get invites to all the happening parties in the city and are even on guestlists of hip events. The number of times they mention to be ¡®entrepreneurs¡¯, yet be totally vociferous about socially relevant issues. If you stalk their social media check-ins, you can see how they spend their nights partying and their days at some charity.

Anna Delwey

Their weekends are a mash-up of being elite socialites and also volunteering for charities. You will also notice, how little you know about their backstories or background or education or families. They are always shrouded in mysteries, yet you don¡¯t know how is it that people seem to like having them around. The reason? They are smooth-talkers and are so convincing that you might as well be eating out of their hands. They always talk about ¡®passion projects¡¯ and being on the lookout for potential ¡®investors¡¯. Some might even find people to invest in their passion projects. You will see them always dining in the finest of restaurants and wearing labels, yet you never realise how do they manage it all. Chances are, they could very well be mooching off someone.

So who is Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey?

Anna Sorokin was born to working class parents in Moscow, Russia. Her family later relocated to Germany and she relocated to London to study fashion and soon changed her name to Anna Delvey. She worked as an intern in a public relations firm and soon travelled to New York to attend New York Fashion Week. She stayed back in New York, as she loved the city and came upon the idea of starting a Soho House-esque club only meant for the elites of New York. She soon began scamming her way to the elite clubs and parties of New York posing as a German heiress.

AFP

She conned not just people but even hotels, gave fake credit card details and even forged bank statements. She sought a loan worth 16 million dollars for her Anna Delvey Foundation, an arts club. While, this loan was denied to her, she managed to convince other banks, to give her a loan of $74,000 dollars. About $22, 000 out of this amount were used to pay for the exquisite and grand hotel she was staying in. She had even promised a friend of an all-expenses paid trip to Morocco, but her friend was left with a bill of $45,000 dollars.

According to a leading daily in US, Anna Delvey aka Sorokin defrauded hotels, restaurants, banks, and a private jet operator out of more than $200,000.

Anna Delwey

It was when she tried to seek a loan from Fortress Investment Group, when the company became suspicious of her paperwork and lots of discrepancies in it. She checked in 11 Howard Hotel in Soho and used to frequently give cash tips to the staff. However, the management soon found out that there was no credit card to her name and that she should settle her $30,000 bill. She even tried to bribe the staff with expensive wine to ensure that they don¡¯t ask her to pay the bill of her stay.

She deposited forged cheques, forged wire transfers in Citibank and a local private flight operator. Sorokin, after fooling her friends in Morocco and making them pay $62,000 for the stay, moved into New York¡¯s Beekman Hotel and W New York Union Square hotels, both of whom evicted her as she failed to pay the bills.

Where is Anna Sorokin now?

On October 3rd 2017, Anna Delvey was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department in a sting operation carried out by Manhattan District Attorney¡¯s Office. Delvey, was soon transferred to Riker¡¯s Island prison and held without bail. She has been indicted for carrying on scams worth more than $ 250,000 dollars. She has been arrested on charges of cheque forgery, six-figure stolen loans and some other schemes that were a part of her ¡®grand scam¡¯. In April 2019, Anna Delvey was convicted of eight charges against her, which included second-degree grand larceny, theft of services, and first-degree attempted grand larceny. Anna Delvey was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison and ordered to pay back the people she scammed.

AFP

Anna Delvey aka Sorokin was released from prison on February 11th 2021, for good behaviour after serving four years in prison. However, in March 2021, she was taken back in custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement, for overstaying her visa requirements and is soon slated to be deported to Germany.

The web series Inventing Anna which was recently released on Netflix is based on real events. However, Rachel Williams, the former Vanity Fair staffer who was scammed out of 62,000 dollars has called the series out for 'sympathizing' with the scam artist.

¡°I think promoting this whole narrative and celebrating a sociopathic, narcissistic, proven criminal is wrong,¡± Williams told Vanity Fair in her first interview about the series. ¡°Having had a front-row seat to [the Anna circus] for far too long, I¡¯ve studied the way a con works more than anybody needs to. You watch the spectacle, but you¡¯re not paying attention to what¡¯s being marketed.¡±