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Fake Heiress Who Allegedly Scammed New York's Socialites Faces New Charges
“Her overall scheme has been to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with approximately $60 million in funds being held abroad. She’s born in Russia and has not a cent to her name as far as we can determine,” prosecutors say.
An Russian-born alleged grifter who police say scammed her way to New York City infamy and a Netflix series has been indicted on financial fraud charges, again.
Anna Sorokin, 27, the daughter of a truck driver who allegedly claimed the name “Anna Delvey” and posed as a German heiress worth €60 million, was arraigned on Tuesday in a Manhattan court on three counts of misdemeanor theft of services, according to Justin Henry, a spokesperson for District Attorney Cy Vance, whose office is prosecuting Sorokin.
She pleaded not guilty to the new charges and was returned to Rikers Island, where she has been held without bail since October 2017.
The new charges come on top of six financial felonies and another misdemeanor Sorokin was accused of committing in a 2017 indictment, which alleges she scammed $275,000 from banks, businesses and acquaintances, while attempting to obtain a loan between $22 and $35 million to open a private, SoHo House-type club, according to prosecutors.
“Her overall scheme has been to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with approximately $60 million in funds being held abroad,” Assistant Manhattan District Attorney Catherine McCaw said at Sorokin’s initial arraignment, according to the New York Post.
“She’s born in Russia and has not a cent to her name as far as we can determine,” McCaw added.
The new charges filed against Sorokin accuse her of not paying hotel bills in June and July 2017, at the Parker New York in midtown Manhattan; the Beekman Hotel, across from City Hall; and the W New York Downtown, near the World Trade Center.
Sorokin’s run through New York City’s downtown scenesters, hip hotels and chic restaurants on her way to “it” girl status was chronicled in a May New York Magazine profile, “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York City’s Party People.”
A month later, the rights to Sorokin’s story were purchased by Netflix producer Shonda Rhimes, according to Variety.
Sorokin rejected a plea bargain offer from prosecutors in June that would have capped her maximum sentence at three-to-nine years, according to Henry, the prosecutors’ spokesperson.
When Sorokin’s lawyer, Todd Spodek, said she was willing to plead guilty in exchange for a maximum sentence of one-to-three years, the judge presiding over the case, Justice Diane Kiesel, ripped the proposal as “a mere slap on the wrist for a crime this serious.”
“I see no remorse. She seems more concerned about who is going to play her in the movie than what she’s done to the people she allegedly took advantage of,” Kiesel added, according to the New York Post.
A phone call to Spodek’s firm seeking comment was answered by an assistant, who promised to forward the message, but Spodek never returned the call.
Sorokin’s next court appearance is Oct. 30.
[Photo: Getty, Anna Sorokin, a/k/a “Anna Delvey,” far right, attending a New York Fashion Week event by Rodarte at The Jane Hotel on September 9, 2014]
