Anna Delvey is the alias used by Anna Sorokin, a Russian-born con artist who posed as a German heiress to steal more than $200,000 from New York banks, luxury hotels, and acquaintances between 2016 and 2017. A Manhattan jury convicted her in 2019 on multiple counts of grand larceny and theft of services, and she served nearly four years in state prison. She now lives in New York City on a GPS ankle monitor, fighting deportation to Germany.1BBC News. Anna Sorokin Guilty of Theft and Grand Larceny2BBC News. Anna Sorokin Fighting Deportation
Who She Actually Is
Sorokin was born on January 23, 1991, in Domodedovo, a town outside Moscow. Her father drove a truck before opening a heating and cooling business, and her mother ran a small convenience store.3South China Morning Post. Where Are Anna Sorokin’s Parents Now The family moved to North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, when she was 16, and she finished high school outside Cologne.4Golden Globes. Inventing Anna Real Life Story of Anna Sorokin
She briefly attended college in London, dropped out, and moved to Paris, where she adopted the surname “Delvey” and interned at the French fashion magazine Purple. The internship put her in rooms with magazine editors, nightlife figures, and artists she would later lean on for credibility.5People. Inventing Anna True Story6New York Magazine. How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People She arrived in New York in the summer of 2013 for Fashion Week and stayed.4Golden Globes. Inventing Anna Real Life Story of Anna Sorokin
In Manhattan she built a persona around designer clothing, Art Basel appearances, and stays at hotels like 11 Howard and the Beekman. She tipped hotel staff $100 bills in cash, which bought her the benefit of the doubt from people who assumed anyone that generous had to be rich. Her Instagram feed, filled with blue-chip art and travel, reached about 40,000 followers.6New York Magazine. How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People7Artnet News. Anna Delvey Art Instagram
What the Scheme Looked Like
Sorokin’s biggest ambition was the Anna Delvey Foundation, a proposed private arts club she wanted to open in the Church Missions House at 281 Park Avenue South. The pitch included nearly 20,000 square feet of exhibition space, three restaurants, a rooftop lounge, and a German bakery, with promises that artists like Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, and Tracey Emin would be involved and that Christo had agreed to wrap the building.8Artnet News. Anna Delvey Foundation
To fund it, she sought a $25 million loan from banks and hedge funds, backed by forged statements showing $60 million in a Swiss UBS trust. When institutions tried to verify the money, she pointed them to a “Peter W. Hennecke,” supposedly the head of her family office, who corresponded from an AOL email address.6New York Magazine. How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People1BBC News. Anna Sorokin Guilty of Theft and Grand Larceny
The loan never closed, but the process gave her enough standing to extract real money elsewhere. She talked City National Bank into a temporary $100,000 overdraft on the strength of forged proof of foreign assets, promised a wire transfer that never came, and spent roughly $55,000 on hotel stays, clothing, personal training, and Apple products. Prosecutors said she also kited checks, depositing bad ones and withdrawing the funds before they bounced.1BBC News. Anna Sorokin Guilty of Theft and Grand Larceny
Hotels followed a pattern. She would check in without a valid credit card, say she was paying by wire, and stall until staff locked her out. She left 11 Howard owing about $30,000 and the Beekman owing $11,518.6New York Magazine. How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People
Friends paid too. On a trip to the La Mamounia resort in Marrakech, Sorokin booked a $7,000-a-night riad; when her cards failed, her companion Rachel DeLoache Williams, a Vanity Fair photo editor, ended up putting the $62,000 balance on her corporate American Express card. Sorokin repaid only $5,000. A Beijing-based collector lent her a few thousand dollars for a trip to the Venice Biennale and was never repaid, and a British designer was stiffed on a £16,800 branding fee for the foundation.6New York Magazine. How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People
How She Got Caught
The case went from local court filings to international story in May 2018, when journalist Jessica Pressler published “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People” in New York magazine. The article laid out the scope of the fraud and the social scene that enabled it, and it went viral.9Shondaland. Jessica Pressler Introduced the World to Anna Delvey It also became the source material for Netflix’s limited series Inventing Anna, which premiered in February 2022. Netflix paid Sorokin $320,000 for the rights to her life story.10Business Insider. Netflix Paid Anna Delvey Sorokin TV Series Victim Fund
The Trial and Sentence
Sorokin’s trial opened in New York State Supreme Court in Manhattan at the end of March 2019 and ran about a month. On April 25, 2019, the jury convicted her on eight counts: four counts of theft of services, three counts of grand larceny, and one count of attempted grand larceny. She was acquitted on two charges, including the attempted grand larceny count tied to the $22 million loan application.11Time. Anna Delvey Sorokin Trial1BBC News. Anna Sorokin Guilty of Theft and Grand Larceny
On May 9, 2019, Judge Diane Kiesel sentenced her to four to twelve years in prison, ordered roughly $199,000 in restitution, and imposed $24,000 in fines.12BBC News. Sorokin Sentenced to Four to 12 Years New York then invoked its “Son of Sam” law to freeze her Netflix payment so she could not profit from the crimes. Portions of the frozen money went to pay $199,000 in bank restitution (including $100,000 to City National Bank), the $24,000 in state fines, and $75,000 in attorney fees. In January 2021, an Albany County judge ordered the remainder unfrozen.10Business Insider. Netflix Paid Anna Delvey Sorokin TV Series Victim Fund
Release, ICE Detention, and the Ankle Monitor
Sorokin was released from state prison on February 11, 2021, after serving nearly four years, having earned early release for good behavior.13Town & Country. Where Is Anna Delvey Today Six weeks later, on March 25, 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement took her into custody for overstaying her visa. As a Russian-born German citizen without valid status, she was subject to removal.14ABC7 New York. Inventing Anna Sorokin Delvey Jail
She spent roughly 17 months at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York. A deportation order was signed in February 2022, but her legal team secured an emergency stay from the Board of Immigration Appeals and kept filing motions.15People. Anna Sorokin to Be Released From ICE Custody16NBC News. Fake Heiress Anna Sorokin Still in US
In October 2022, Immigration Judge Charles Conroy granted her release on a $10,000 bond with strict conditions: 24-hour home confinement, a GPS ankle monitor, weekly check-ins with removal operations, and a ban on social media. The judge found her risk of flight sufficiently mitigated by supervision and by the fact that she was now a public figure.17Forbes. Anna Delvey Sorokin Granted House Arrest Amid Immigration Battle
Sorokin challenged those conditions by writ of habeas corpus, arguing they were more punitive than prison because she could not leave her apartment even for groceries or medical appointments except in emergencies.18New York Post. Anna Sorokin Says Home Confinement Social Media Ban More Restrictive Than Jail In early August 2024, after a successful appeal and a federal lawsuit brought by her immigration attorney John Sandweg, a former acting head of ICE, a judge loosened the terms. The social media ban was lifted and the 24-hour confinement ended, though she still wears the ankle monitor and needs ICE authorization for certain activities.19Business Insider. Anna Sorokin House Arrest Dancing With the Stars Ankle Monitor
What She’s Doing Now
Sorokin has turned her notoriety into a career. She drew sketches while in ICE detention, showed them at a March 2022 group show called “Free Anna Delvey,” and later priced her drawings at $10,000 apiece. She also released a set of NFTs titled “Reinventing Anna” and staged a pop-up called “Allegedly.”20Paper Magazine. Anna Delvey Art Show21Variety. Anna Sorokin Inventing Anna Released Prison
In June 2023 she launched The Anna Delvey Show, a Spotify podcast recorded from her East Village apartment with guests including Whitney Cummings, Julia Fox, and Emily Ratajkowski.22The Guardian. Anna Delvey Podcast She filmed a reality show called Delvey’s Dinner Club from the same apartment and appeared on the competition series The Anonymous.23People. Where Is Anna Delvey Now In 2025 she launched a fashion PR consultancy, OutLaw Agency, with publicist Kelly Cutrone.24Fortune. Anna Delvey Is Back With New Plans
In September 2024 she competed on season 33 of ABC’s Dancing With the Stars, paired with professional dancer Ezra Sosa. ICE gave her special permission to travel to Los Angeles for filming, and she danced with her ankle monitor bedazzled and visible.25CBS News. Anna Sorokin Convicted Con Artist Dancing With the Stars Glittery Ankle Monitor26The Hollywood Reporter. Anna Delvey Dancing With the Stars Eliminated27People. Dancing With the Stars Season 33 Finale Anna Delvey Returns
The Rachel Williams Lawsuit Against Netflix
Rachel DeLoache Williams, the friend left with the Marrakech bill, published a memoir called My Friend Anna through Simon & Schuster in July 2019.28Refinery29. My Friend Anna Book Excerpt In August 2022 she sued Netflix for defamation in the U.S. District Court for the District of Delaware, alleging that Inventing Anna falsely depicted her as snobbish, greedy, and someone who had abandoned Sorokin. Her lawyers argued that Netflix used her real name and biographical details while fictionalizing other real people’s identities.29Oxygen. Rachel DeLoache Williams Sues Netflix A federal judge denied Netflix’s motion to dismiss in 2024, and the parties settled in February 2026 on undisclosed terms before a pending summary judgment motion was decided.30Variety. Netflix Settles Inventing Anna Defamation Suit
Where the Immigration Case Stands
Sorokin’s 2019 criminal conviction remains under appeal, which her attorneys say has contributed to how long the immigration case has dragged on.2BBC News. Anna Sorokin Fighting Deportation As of 2026, the Department of Homeland Security has signaled that her deportation “may finally be coming,” with officials saying Sorokin has “made a mockery” of the immigration system.31Fox News. Anna Delvey Sorokin Still Posting in New York City as DHS Signals Deportation May Finally Be Coming For now, she remains in Manhattan, on an ankle monitor, still working.