Fans all around the world have been captivated by the new true-crime Netflix series Inventing Anna, but many will be questioning what is reality and what is fiction in the program.
The series is based on the actual events of Anna Delvey (Julia Garner), also known as Sorokin, a Russian-born false German heiress who managed to swindle hotels, banks, and rich friends.
Through the eyes of Vivian (Anna Chlumsky), a fictionalized version of the journalist Jessica Pressler who broke the outrageous true story in 2017, as well as from the perspectives of those who knew her, including her ex-friend Rachel DeLoache Williams (played by Katie Lowes in the series), who allegedly was defrauded of thousands of dollars by Delvey, the rise and fall of Delvey is explored.
Who is Inventing Anna in real life?
Russian-born Anna Delvey, whose true name is Sorokin, defrauded banks, hotels, and prominent New Yorkers out of significant sums of money by posing as a wealthy German heiress.
- The 31-year-old arrived to New York City in the summer of 2013 while working for the French fashion magazine Purple.
- She was born in Moscow before her family moved to Germany. Prior to moving to Paris, she had been enrolled at Central Saint Martins in London but had left the program and changed her last name from Sorokin to Delvey.
- She moved to Purple’s office in the city after arriving in New York and started socializing with the affluent people involved in the city’s art scene. She also began selling potential investors on her proposal for the Anna Delvey Foundation, a private members’ club and art foundation.
- She would defraud several acquaintances of thousands of dollars over the course of the following five years by promising to pay for hotels and plane tickets and then “forgetting” to do so, all the while pretending to have family money.
- She also managed to scam hotels by tricking them into not requiring a credit card while convincing banks to loan her hundreds of thousands of dollars and depositing fake checks.
What wrong doing did Anna Delvey engage in?
While in New York City, Sorokin pretended to be a wealthy German heiress in order to get access to the social elite of the city.
- She conned many individuals, hotels, and banks throughout her stay in the city, frequently using fraudulent credit cards or fabricated bank statements to give the appearance of prosperity.
- To attract affluent benefactors and boost her reputation, she even came up with the concept of the Anna Delvey Organization, a private club and art foundation.
- Sorokin was evicted from many hotels after hopping from one to the next and constantly failing to pay her payments.
- Sorokin was taken into custody following a sting operation in October 2017. She was residing at the time at a rehab center for substance abuse in the county of Los Angeles, California. It was estimated that she stole about $275,000 throughout her trial.
- Including attempted grand larceny in the first degree, grand larceny in the second degree, grand larceny in the third degree, and theft of services, Sorokin was found guilty of eight crimes on April 25, 2019. She received a 4 to 12-year state jail term, a $24,000 fine, and a $199,000 restitution requirement in May of that year.
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What has become of Anna Sorokin?
At the Albion Correctional Facility, Sorokin completed her term before being released early on February 11, 2021.
In March 2021, she was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for exceeding her visa’s validity. She was then lodged in the county prison of New Jersey while awaiting deportation to Germany.
According to Insider, Netflix gave her $320,000 for the rights to her life narrative. However, New York State froze her earnings in 2019, citing the Son of Sam rule that prohibits anyone convicted of crimes from benefitting from their publicity.
In exchange, Netflix agreed to pay $24,000 in state fines and $199,000 in restitution to the banks into an escrow account overseen by the Office of Victim Services and handled by Sorokin’s attorney.
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A jet was stolen by Anna Delvey?
Using the word “steal” to describe what Anna did may seem overly harsh to viewers. Garner’s Anna requests a private jet to take her to Omaha, Nebraska for billionaire businessman Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway Conference by feigning friendship with the CEO of the jet company.
In essence, Anna is able to board a jet without having to pay and without being scrutinized.
What action took Anna Sorokin?
Between 2013 and 2017, Sorokin took out loans from friends, including the art collector Michael Xufu Huang, who claimed she forgot to reimburse him for “two or three thousand dollars” in travel expenses.
However, according to Artnet, he claimed he eventually received payment from a Venmo account under a different name.
Anna Sorokin had a birthday celebration at Sadelle’s in New York in January 2016 and hired a PR company to organize the event. However, according to Huang, the restaurant messaged him a few days later to ask for her contact information since she hadn’t paid the bill.
Although this was not established in subsequent court procedures, the Netflix documentary claims that Sorokin made false bank statements while raising money for her Anna Delvey Foundation and used them to seek for a $22 million loan from City National Bank.
