Fake German heiress Anna Sorokin
(Picture: AP)The fake heiress behind Netflix hit series ‘Inventing Anna’ said she got “exactly what I wanted” after being released from prison to house arrest in a Manhattan apartment.
Anna Sorokin, 31, conned her way into New York’s high society by posing as a socialite with a £59 million fortune, culminating in a 2019 prison sentence for swindling US banks, hotels, and friends.
Known as Anna Delvey, she collected investment for a planned members-only arts club, but funds were instead used to bankroll her luxury life of five-star hotels, private jet flights, and designer clothes - all inspiring the hit Netflix series starring Julia Garner and Anna Chlumsky.
After her release from custody last Friday, Sorokin told the New York Times she is determined to fight deportation to Germany – where she is a citizen – she is “regretful” about the events that led her to prison, and has “learned so much being in jail”.
Asked about staying in Manhattan, Sorokin said: “I’m really, really happy about that. That’s exactly what I wanted. I’m just hoping to get more freedom eventually.”
Sorokin called her release from custody “an exercise in perseverance” after previously being denied bail, adding: “So many immigration lawyers told me I’d get deported to Mars before I’d get out in New York.
“And I just had to find the person who’d align with my vision, not accept ‘no’ for an answer and make it happen.”
The convicted con artist was sentenced to between four and 12 years in prison in 2019 for multiple counts of larceny and theft, and was freed in February 2021 with good behaviour and time served.
However Sorokin, who was born in the former Soviet Union, was swiftly taken back into custody amid efforts to deport her from the United States for overstaying her visa.
In house arrest, she must wear an ankle bracelet and has been banned from social media, having accrued more than a million Instagram followers during her trial and imprisonment.
Sorokin could have fought her immigration case from Germany but chose to remain in the US, even if it meant a longer spell in prison.
“Letting them deport me would have been like a sign of capitulation - confirmation of this perception of me as this shallow person who only cares about obscene wealth, and that’s just not the reality”, she said. “I’m trying to fix what I’ve done wrong.”
Sorokin joked of “better food” on house arrest at the home found by her lawyer and paid for with three months’ rent upfront, adding she is “finding my way back”.
“I am regretful about the way things played out”, she said, vowing to “learn from” her experience. Sorokin said she is planning a book, a new podcast, and wants to highlight the struggles of women in prison.
