Anna Delvey, born Anna Sorokin, captured the world’s attention with her audacious scheme to pose as a wealthy New York socialite. Her elaborate con, which duped the city’s elite, landed her in prison, making her a symbol of deception and ambition. Her rise and fall offer a gripping tale of how far someone can go with confidence, charm, and a compelling lie.
The Beginning: From Russia to New York
Anna Sorokin was born on January 23, 1991, in Domodedovo, Russia, to a working-class family. Her father worked as a truck driver, and her mother owned a small convenience store. At the age of 16, Anna and her family moved to Germany, where she spent her teenage years. Despite her modest upbringing, Anna harbored dreams of wealth and glamour.
After finishing school in Germany, she moved to London to attend Central Saint Martins, a prestigious art school, but she soon dropped out. Anna eventually found herself in Paris, where she landed an internship at Purple, a well-known fashion magazine. It was there that Anna Sorokin reinvented herself as “Anna Delvey,” a mysterious German heiress with an endless supply of cash.
The Scheme Begins
In 2016, Anna Delvey moved to New York City, a city that seemed like the perfect playground for her grandiose dreams. Armed with her new identity, she quickly embedded herself into Manhattan’s elite social circles. Anna claimed to be the daughter of a wealthy European family with a trust fund of $60 million, allowing her to live a lavish lifestyle filled with expensive clothes, high-end hotels, exclusive parties, and fine dining.
To the outside world, Anna seemed legitimate. She always stayed at luxury hotels, tipped generously, and was friends with prominent figures in art, fashion, and finance. But behind the scenes, Anna was funding her extravagant lifestyle through deception. She used bad checks, forged bank statements, and false promises to keep up appearances. Her charm and confidence allowed her to get away with it for much longer than anyone expected.
One of Anna’s biggest scams involved attempting to secure a $22 million loan to open the Anna Delvey Foundation (ADF), a private arts club in Manhattan. She managed to convince high-profile investors, banks, and real estate developers that she had the means to fund this project. However, her house of cards began to crumble when her lies caught up with her, and she failed to provide the necessary financial backing.
The Downfall: Lies Unraveled
As her deceptions unraveled, it became increasingly difficult for Anna Delvey to maintain her façade. By 2017, her unpaid bills began to stack up. She was eventually kicked out of luxury hotels, and her friends started to realize that she never paid them back for lavish trips or expensive meals.
In a particularly audacious scam, Anna convinced her friend, Rachel DeLoache Williams, a photo editor at Vanity Fair, to pay for a $62,000 luxury vacation to Morocco, with the promise of reimbursement. Rachel, like many others in Anna’s life, believed she would be paid back, but the money never came.
Anna Delvey luck ran out in 2017 when she was arrested on charges of grand larceny, theft of services, and other financial crimes. Her trial began in 2019, and the world watched as the story of Anna Delvey’s elaborate con unfolded in court. The prosecution painted her as a manipulative fraudster who used her charm and false identity to swindle people and businesses out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. In April 2019, she was found guilty of multiple charges and sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison.
The Legacy: Fame from Infamy
Despite her criminal activities, Anna Delvey became a pop culture sensation. Her trial was widely covered in the media, and she attracted a cult following. Her courtroom appearances, where she often dressed in designer clothes, became headline news. Her story fascinated people because it was more than just a scam; it was about someone who exploited the hunger for status and wealth in modern society.
While incarcerated at Rikers Island, Anna’s notoriety only grew. In 2021, Netflix released a highly anticipated series, Inventing Anna, based on a New York Magazine article by journalist Jessica Pressler. The show, produced by Shonda Rhimes, catapulted Anna’s story into mainstream entertainment. Anna herself profited from the series, earning a reported $320,000 from Netflix, some of which went toward repaying her victims.