The Secret Sits

Who is Anna Sorokin?

March 24, 2022 John W. Dodson Season 2 Episode 1
The Secret Sits
Who is Anna Sorokin?
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Show Notes Transcript

In our Season 2 premier episode, we are covering Anna Sorokin, or as she would like to be known, Anna Delvey.  Anna is the subject of the new Netflix series Inventing Anna, but which parts are true and which parts did they completely make up?  In our story, we will cover the facts surrounding the actual Anna Sorokin and how this mysterious young woman conned so much from so many.

We are looking for hometown True Crime stories for future episodes.  Please send your stories to us at: TheSecretSitsPodcast@gmail.com

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In this world, not everyone is who they seem to be.  Sometimes people invent entirely new personalities and portray themselves so authentically in that new persona, they end up fooling everyone around them.

Welcome to The Secret Sits, I’m your host John Dodson.  Join us every Thursday as we uncover the Secrets behind the world’s most fascinating true crime cases.  You can find all episodes of The Secret Sits for free on Apple Podcast, Spotify or where ever you get your podcasts.  And if you like what you are hearing, reach out to us on Instagram and Facebook @The Secret Sits Podcast or on Twitter @SecretSitsPod. Now, on with our story.

If you enjoy a night in, watching Netflix on your couch under a fluffy blanket, you may have seen a new show which recently dropped called “Inventing Anna”.  This is the true story, except the parts they completely made up, of Anna Sorokin and how she conned so much from so many.  Today, on The Secret Sits we are going to look at just the facts surrounding this international woman of intrigue.  

Anna’s story began in Domodedovo which is a city in Moscow Oblast, Russia, located about 23 miles south of Moscow.   Vadim, Anna’s father, worked as a truck driver and her mother owned and operated a small convenience store.  Anna was born on January 23rd 1991 and the couple was very happy with their new baby.  In 2007 the family relocated to North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.  You see, Anna’s father Vadim had gotten a job as an executive for a transportation company, which required the move.  Anna was 16 years old when her family relocated to Germany.  Just 6 years after the move, the company Vadim had relocated for, was shuttered.  Vadim then opened his own business, he worked on HVAC systems, specifically working to make them more energy efficient.  At this time Anna’s mother was working as a homemaker and Anna was attending a German school, which name translates to Episcopal School of Out Lady, a gymnasium in Eschweiler.  For those of you not familiar with the German or European school systems, a gymnasium is the highest of the three levels of finishing school, in the United States of America, this would be the equivalent of going to a private prep-school.

Anna reportedly struggled with the German language as she had grown up speaking Russian.  But she found her love inside of fashion magazines and she was soon becoming obsessed with the life and luxuries she saw while reading her prized periodicals.  

Anna graduated from gymnasium in June of 2011 and promptly moved to London, England to attend the Central Saint Martins.  This school focused on an education in the arts, but Anna did not even finish her first year, instead she returned home to Germany and began an internship with a public relations company operating in Berlin.  Next, Anna gained an internship at Purple, a French magazine started in 1992.  Purple features fashion which goes against the norm, they do not feature the type of superficial glamour of other fashion magazines.  For this job, Anna moved to Paris and began earning around 400 euros per month, this would equate to around $444.00 UDS.  Anna’s parents did subsidize her rent while she lived in Paris, because she made so little money.

While Anna was living in Paris, she began using the surname Delvey.  Anna made claims that this was her mother’s maiden name, which we will learn is simply not true.

Anna was sent, by her magazine, to New York City for fashion week in 2013 and she loved the city, it was truly where she felt at home for the first time in her life.  After she had made some friends and connections around the city, she decided to stay in New York and give it a shot, so Purple transferred Anna to the New York offices for Purple.  But after working for Purple in New York for just a short time, Anna felt it was time to venture out on her own and put her own stamp on this great big spinning ball we call Earth.

Anna’s grand idea was what she called ADF, or the Anna Delvey Foundation.  This would be a private member’s club and art foundation.  The club would be ultra-exclusive and would be bigger than the London SOHO Club, according to Anna.

For a private club, Anna would need space, lots of space, she wanted her club to have amenities that no other private social clubs had anywhere in the world.  Hers would be the best.  Anna began looking for spaces in which she could fit her club and all of her ideas.  She finally decided on the Church Missions House, the Church Missions House has gorgeous architecture, it is located at Park Avenue South and East 22nd Street which puts it right in the middle of Gramercy Park. The building was constructed with a steel frame, but it is clad with a medieval-inspired façade.  There was almost 34,000 square feet of usable space inside of the building spanning over 6 floors, more than enough space for Anna’s ideas.

The owner and developer of the building was Aby Rosen and Aby had just opened his own private-club a few years back, it was called the Core Club and it also housed an impressive art collection.  Aby Rosen also owned the Howard 11 hotel, remember that fact for later.

Anna’s plan for this space would include multi-purpose event spaces, an art studio, pop-up shops which would be curated by artist Daniel Arsham.  Anna had met Daniel during her internship at Purple.  There would also be exhibitions by Urs Fischer, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons and Tracey Emin.  Now you may not be familiar with these artists, but they are extremely heavy hitters in the art world, for example you may have seen Jeff Koons everyday art objects he creates, like the balloon animal dog, in a mirror finish, or some other color in metallic.  Anna was receiving help planning the space, from architect Santiago Calatrava’s son.  Santiago is an extremely influential architect who has designed bridges across Europe, stadiums and museums, his buildings usually look like some sort of living organism.  And Roo Rogers was helping Anna set up her beverage operation for the club.  Anna also claimed that she was going to have Christos wrap the building for the opening.  Christos and his wife Jeanne-Claude were famous artist who did large outdoor art displays all over the world, you should look up their work, it is beautiful, thoughtful and original.  Sadly, Jeanne-Claude passed away in 2009 and Christos followed his beloved wife into the afterworld in 2020.

Anna told everyone that she was a German heiress and that she had a trust fund.  Anna was always wearing the most impressive, in season fashion and she was a name dropper, she would tell you who she was wearing even if you did not ask, or care.  Even though Anna had many expensive, designer things, she never seemed to have any money.  She also asked friends, quite often, if she could crash at their homes.  If she could not find a place to stay for the night, with a friend, Anna would sleep in a car.  When Anna and friends went out, Anna always said that she had forgotten her wallet, or that her father was mad at her and cut off her finances for a while.

Anna met Michael Huang at a dinner party in 2015.  Now Michael was an art collector and socialite from China and his family had money, real money, like, however much money you are imagining right now, triple that and you might be close.  Anna learned that Michael would be attending the Venice Biennale, this is an art show which takes place in Venice, and she just asked him if she could go.  Michael agreed to take Anna and he booked her a flight and hotel room; they had agreed that Anna would pay him back the $3,000 he had shelled out for her.

When the two young beautiful socialites returned to New York after the show, Anna seemed to just forget the arrangement the two had agreed on before leaving for the trip.  Now Michael does not need the money, so he was not stressed about Anna paying him back and he honestly just took this as Anna being absent minded.  

For her birthday in 2016, Anna hired a public relations group to make her a reservation at Sadelle’s restaurant in New York.  At the end of the party, Anna’s credit card was declined and she could not pay.  After the manager of the exclusive restaurant saw Michael Huang in photos from the birthday party at the restaurant, he contacts Michael and asked for contact information about Anna Sorokin.  Michael began getting even more suspicious of Anna after this.  He also took note that for a German heiress, he found it strange that she lived in a hotel full time and not an apartment.  I mean this was common for rich people in the past, like the 40’s, but today not so much, today it just looks suspicious.  Michael finally did get repaid for the trip to Venice, however; the money did not come from Anna, but from a mysterious Venmo account.  Michael said he did not recognize the name associated with the Venmo account and after that, he blocked Anna on social media and ended their friendship.

Anna was living in a hotel room in The Standard, High Line when she met a photo editor for Vanity Fair at a nightclub called Happy Ending.  This woman’s name is Rachel DeLoache Williams, she and Anna became fast friends, even though some of Anna’s habits did annoy Rachel.  Rachel said that Anna was very rude to waitstaff in restaurants, shops, pretty much everywhere.  And Anna was one of those people who do not wait for the elevator to empty before she entered it, as soon as the elevator doors opened, she would dive right in, even if people were trying to exit.  Eventually Rachel would also be Anna’s downfall.

Anna needed money to start opening her club, but financial institutions need proof of funds and collateral before they will give you money.  Anna kept telling them that she had a trust fund back in Germany worth $60 million, but she could not access the money yet.  Anna set out producing fake bank statements along with many other financial documents to prove to the lenders that she did have the money in the bank.  She was soon put in contact with Joel Cohen at Gibson Dunn, this is a global law firm, who would represent Anna.  Joel Cohen was the prosecutor who famously took down Jordan Belfort, a.k.a. the Wolf of Wall Street. Gibson Dunn, assigned Anna’s case to Andy Lance.  Anna liked Andy, “He would explain to me the right amount, without being patronizing.”  Anna also said that Andy was “There all the time.  He would answer the phone in the middle of the night, or when he was in Turks and Caicos for Christmas.” Anna, truly enjoyed the business relationship with Andy, she was very use to older men who did not treat her with resect because she was a woman and so young.  Andy Lance filled out Anna’s new-client-intake form and he marked all of the boxes confirming that his new client had all of the money she claimed to have and that this transaction would not embarrass their firm.  Andy then put Anna in contact with several extremely large financial institutions which included City National Bank and Fortress Investment Group.  Now if you have never heard of Fortress Investment Group, they are one of the largest investment groups in the USA and they manage upwards of 45 billion dollars in assets. 

In November of 2016, Anna had all of her fake paperwork ready to go and she submitted a loan application for $22 million to City National Bank.  City National turned Anna down, because she ultimately could not prove she had the money she claimed.  Next, Anna went to Fortress, and they agreed to consider Anna’s application if she could pay $100,000 to cover the legal expenses of processing her application. 

Then in December 2016, the Church Missions House was leased to Fotografiska New York, when Anna could not come up with the rent money.  On January 12th 2017, Anna convinced the City National Bank to give her an overdraft amount of $100,000, promising the bank that she would pay the money back quickly. Anna gave the bank the contact information for her business manager, Peter Hennecke, we later find out that Peter was completely fake and just part of Anna’s schemes.  After people started to fit the jagged puzzle pieces together regarding Peter, Anna told everyone that he had died and she created a new fake-business manager named Bettina Wagner.

Anna used the $100,000 dollar overdraft money from City Bank to pay for the fees at Fortress, trying to get the $22 million she needed for the Anna Delvey Foundation.  As Fortress began processing Anna’s loan application, they began noticing some inconsistencies.  For one, she listed that she was from German heritage, but her passport clearly showed she was originally from Russia.  The director of Fortress went about setting up a meeting with the Swiss bank holding Anna’s $60 million in assets, when Anna found out that this meeting had been set, she withdrew her application from the Fortress group.

Now in February of 2017, Fortress returned the unused portion of Anna’s $100,000 fee, of which, $55,000 remained.  Anna then took this $55,000 and spent it on designer cloths, electronics and a personal trainer.  On February 18th, Anna check into a room at the 11 Howard hotel in SOHO, the cost of the room was set at $400 per night which would come to $12,000 per month.  Anna freely gave the concierge and other employees of the hotel $100 bills as tips, even for the simplest things, like suggesting a good restaurant. Some people who worked in the hotel became quite close friends with Anna, well as close as you can get to a person, you don’t really know.  But other employees found Anna rude and said she acted very elitist. 

One staff member at the 11 Howard, Anna grew particularly close to was a concierge named Neffatari Davis, who went by Neff.  She was 25 at the time and she was surprised by the new eccentric guest, she appeared around the same age as Neff, but she just had so much money.  Neff was an aspiring film maker, who took in details easily, for example, Anna always wore a pair of large chunky eye glasses and Neff instantly identified them as being Celine glasses, which would average around $1,000 a pair.  Anna always wanted to know where the hottest new restaurant was or where was a new cool place she could go hang out, and she paid generously, she always tipped in crisp $100 bills.  In an expensive hotel in New York, the concierge staff is use to a modicum of this type of behavior, many times these same concierges have to act as lay therapists for some guests.  But Anna Delvey, was different, especially with Neff.  Anna would bring her food down to the lobby and she would position herself very close to Neff’s desk so they could chat.  Neff has said that Anna was definitely not racist, but she was very classist.  

Anna began treating the hotel as if it were her personal house.  She walked around in just a robe and leggings and she would eat at the French hotel restaurant, Le Coucou all of the time. This restaurant was opened in 2016 by chef Daniel Rose, who Anna quickly befriended.  Anna would also bill the cost of all her meals to her room.  After Anna had become quite friendly with Neff at the hotel’s concierge desk, she began providing gifts of massages and manicures.  

On one occasion, Anna took Neff along with her as she went to a session with a personal trainer who also worked as a life coach.  This trainer, named Kacy Duke was great and she worked with celebrites like Dakota Johnson.  After this session Anna decided to continue seeing Kacy and she paid for her future sessions right up front, $4,500 all in cash.  

Shortly after this, however; the hotel manager discovered that Anna’s room had no credit card number on file, the hotel had just opened when Anna moved in and all of the computer systems were not fully functioning, which is why it took so long for them to notice, but the hotel insisted that Anna settle her mounting $30,000 room bill.  In an attempt to keep the hotel staff on her side, Anna ordered a case of 1975 Don Pérignon champagne and had it delivered to the staff to share. Today, those bottles of champagne would cost $529 each.  The staff sent the gift back, as it was against the company’s policy for them to accept such a gift.

Anna received the $55,000 from Fortress at the end of February and my March, one month later, Anna Sorokin was completely out of money.  But Anna kept going about her life as she always had, she invited friends out to expensive restaurants and bars and then when the bill came, Anna had forgotten her wallet, or her card was not working and others would pay.  And Anna was all about the New York City social life, she was fundraising for the Anna Delvey Foundation and she attended dinner parties with Macaulay Culkin and Martin Shkreli, not that I would brag about that one, he is disgusting.  Anna would also bring Neff along for these celebrity laden dinner parties, she was seated directly next to Macaulay Culkin at one dinner and she said, it was completely awkward, she did not know what to say or what to talk about, she wanted to talk to him like a fan, but he was just there, being his authentic self and it just seemed inappropriate. 

At this dinner, attended by Neff with Martin Shkreli present, Neff said that Martin played leaked tracks from the yet to be released Lil Wayne album Tha Carter V.  Neff tweeted about hearing these tracks at the dinner party and Anna became furious.  She told her to delete the tweet, but Neff refused, she wanted the world to know she was one of the first people ever to hear the tracks.  Anna avoided Neff in the hotel for several days after this, but then she moved past it and two remained close friends.

One day, while Neff was working at the concierge desk, Charlie Rosen came by the hotel, Charlie is the son of Aby Rosen, who owns the 11 Howard and the Church Missions House, she told the young socialite that Anna Delvey was staying at the hotel, after all, he had to know who she was, she was trying to rent one of his father’s buildings.  But Charlie had no recollection of ever having heard Anna Delvey’s name.  “What room is she staying in?” Charlie asked.  Neff told him what room Anna was in and Charlie said, “If my dad has someone buying property from him staying here, would she be in a Deluxe or would she be in a suite?”  This, maybe for the first time, made Neff feel like, maybe Anna was not all she said she was.  Neff approached Anna and asked, “Why did you tell me you’re buying property from Aby but you’re not staying in a suite?”  Anna was slightly taken aback, but she quickly responded, “You ever have someone do so many favors for you, you kind of just want to pay them back in silence?”  Neff simply said “Genius”.

The next month, in April, Anna deposited $160,000 in fraudulent checks into an account at Citibank, she would then be able to withdraw $70,000 in cash.  She sent $30,000 to 11 Howard to pay off her outstanding bill at the hotel.  When May rolled around Anna had a new idea, she needed to get in front of even more extremely wealthy people and so she hatched a plan to attend the Berkshire Hathaway annual general meeting.  Berkshire Hathaway is the holdings company helmed by Warren Buffet and if you want to talk about disgusting amounts of money, you should start here because this company holds total assets reaching almost one trillion US dollars.  

The annual general meeting of Berkshire Hathaway is a big-ticket event, so Anna needed to show up in style, she forged a confirmation letter showing that the Deutsche Bank had wired $35,390 to Blade, a private charter company, Anna was using to fly to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the event.  Her ultimate goal was to meet Warren Buffet face to face.

Anna was reported to the police in August, by the CEO of Blade for non-payment.  While at Berkshire Hathaway, there is a private party in the Henry Doorly Zoo and Aquarium, this is the area of the event where the truly rich hang out.  Anna claims that while at the event, she was able to sneak into the Zoo area of the event and she claims that she mingled with Bill Gates.

While Anna was off jet setting with billionaires, the 11 Howard Hotel changed the entry codes for Anna’s door and all of her belongings were moved into storage.  Anna had paid off the $30,000 she had previously owed the hotel, but she still did not have a valid credit card on file and she was once again, racking up the charges to her room.  After Anna tried in vain to bamboozle her way out of yet another sticky situation, she began using tactics she had learned from the weasel Matin Shkreli.  Anna purchased the domain names which corresponded to the names of each hotel manager and then she emailed each of them and demanded $1 million dollars per person to retain the domain names for themselves.  Anna’s friend Rachel Williams assisted her in relocating her belongings from 11 Howard to the Mercer Hotel.  Anna had also stolen a two-night stay at The Bowery Hotel, using, once again, a fake money transfer from Deutsche Bank.

In May of 2017, Anna invited her friends Rachel and Neff, along with Kacy Duke, her trainer and a friend of Rachel’s who worked as a photographer, Anna wanted to have him along as a videographer for their trip to Morocco, all-expenses-paid.  Neff could not get the days off of work, so she could not go.  The reason for this trip, according to Anna was because she needed to reset her Electronic System for Travel Authorization or ESTA.  ESTA is essentially an automated system that determines the eligibility of visitors to travel to the United States under the Visa Waiver Program.  Anna booked a riad for their stay in Morocco, a riad is a traditional style Moroccan house with an interior courtyard, usually containing a garden and fountains.  But they did not book just any riad, oh no, Anna had been inspired by Khloe Kardashian and wanted to stay in the same place the reality star had stayed and blasted across her social media.  The La Mamounia, is one of the most expensive and luxurious hotels on planet earth, it is the essence of 5-star luxury.  Anna planned on having all of her waking moments captured on film for a behind the scenes documentary about the creation of the Anna Delvey Foundation. 

The group were met at the airport in Marrakech by hotel staff, who ushered them through customs and into two Land Rovers.  They spent their days exploring the palatial resort, they swam in their private pool and had dinner accompanied by a live Moroccan band.  Anna took some private tennis lessons and the group had a lavish breakfast poolside.  Only two days into their 8-day trip, Kacy Duke come down with a bad case of food poisoning and she was forced to return home to New York early.  The group ventured out of the hotel and into the city for some shopping, when Anna went to pay for her things, her card was declined.  Rachel asked her if she informed her card companies that she was traveling and Anna said no.  Rachel lent money to Anna for her purchases and then later that day, Rachel also footed the bill for dinner.

A few days after arriving at the opulent hotel, a staff member informed her that they were unsuccessful in using the credit cards she had supplied.  Anna ran down all of her typical excuses but the hotel management stood firm, they even fired one hotel staff member because Anna had no valid credit card on file.  The situation became intense, the hotel sent large men to stand at Anna’s room, waiting on a form of payment.  Eventually Rachel offered her credit cards as collateral, while Anna worked everything out with her bank.  The hotel was just supposed to hold Rachel’s cards and not charge them, but that is not exactly what took place.

Rachel Williams, left Morocco the day after this took place, and the hotel charged Rachel’s credit cards for the few days they had been at the hotel, the total was $62,000.  This amount far exceeded what Rachel Williams made in an entire year.  Anna promised to pay her back, she would just wire her some money as soon as they got back to New York.

Along with the hotel costs, Rachel had also forked out the money for the flights to Morocco, a private tour of the Majorelle Garden and all other expenses Anna incurred during the trip.  Despite Rachel’s repeated attempts to collect the money Anna owed her after this trip, she only ever recuperated $5,000 and she was forced to ask her friends to help her cover her rent, after the trip to Morocco with Anna, Rachel only had $410 left in her bank account.  After this story came out, American Express removed $52,000 in charges against Rachel.  After this trip and how everything had turned out, Rachel began asking other friends and acquaintances about lending money to Anna.  They all had stories of lending money and never being repaid and everyone had heard all of Anna’s excuses about why she did not have any money in the moment.  After hearing all of these accounts, Rachel realized that Anna Sorokin was committing fraud.

After Kacy and Rachel had left Morocco, Anna booked a room at the Four Seasons Hotel and Resort in Casablanca, she called and asked Kacy to foot the bill for the room, and then Kacy offered to pay for Anna’s return flight home.  After the offer was made, Anna requested a first-class ticket home and she even took a helicopter to the airport in Casablanca.  

After Anna returned to New York in late May, she moved into the Beekman Hotel and she rented a Tesla to move her belongings.  Neff, helped Anna load her belongings into the car, all the while asking herself, how Anna had possibly gotten a car.  After being in this hotel for a total of 20 days, Anna had accumulated a bill for $11,518, which she could not pay and she was removed from the hotel.  After this she moved on to the W New York Union Square, but they also evicted her after two days and $503 in charges, this hotel pressed charges against Anna for theft of services.  

And then, by July 5th, Anna Sorokin was homeless.  She tried in vain to manipulate her friends into allowing her to stay with them.  One night, Anna Called Kacy Duke, her trainer, while Kacy was entertaining a gentleman in her apartment, Anna was near her apartment and wanted to talk.  Kacy was hesitant, but she went down to the lobby to speak with Anna.  Anna sobbed and talked to Kacy about how no body understood what she was trying to accomplish and how difficult it was.  In the end, Kacy allowed Anna to spend the evening in her apartment. Then Anna went to Rachel, begging for a place to stay, but she refused, she had burned that bridge down to the river.  Later Anna attempted to dine and dash at Le Parker Meridien Hotel next to Central Park.

Anna, once again called Kacy, but Kacy was having none of Anna bullshit, she invited the young girl to a restaurant nearby, Rachel Williams joined the two and they attempted a sort of intervention, they tried to explain to Anna that they were her friends, they wanted explanations about what Anna had done.  They wanted to know who she actually was and if she would ever be paying anyone back.  Anna dove right into her bag of excuses and tears, but the ladies were having none of this, “I’ll have enough to pay everyone, once I get the lease signed” Kacy pulled out her phone and held it up for Anna to see, “The building has been rented” Kacy informed Anna, Fotografiska had already rented the building, it was to be used as a mixed art space.  Anna responded with, “That’s fake news”, I wonder where she picked up that phrase?

The Manhattan DA’s office had also begun investigating Anna for bank fraud. On August 17th and then again on the 21st, Anna deposited two fraudulent checks worth a total of $15,000 into her bank account.  She withdrew $8,200 in cash over the next few days, before the bank identified the check as bad.

Anna Sorokin was arrested on October 3rd 2017.  The DA’s office, working with the NY Police department perpetrated a sting operation planned by officer Michael McCaffrey.  Anna was currently staying at Passages Malibu, a luxury rehabilitation treatment facility in Los Angeles County, California.  Rachel Williams initiated the plan by arranging a lunch date at a restaurant close to the facility and when Anna was lured out of the rehab facility by Rachel, she was arrested by officers from the LAPD.  Anna was extradited back to New York and was indicted on two counts of attempted grand larceny in the first degree, three counts of grand larceny in the second degree, one count of grand larceny in the third degree and one misdemeanor count of theft of services.

On December 18th, 2018, Anna appeared in court to reject a plea deal which offered her 3 to 9 years in prison.  Her trial began on March 20th, 2019.  Upon Anna’s request, her defense attorney arranged for a wardrobe stylist to curate the outfits she would wear in court.  She wore Michael Kors and Yves Saint Laurent.  During one day of trial, Anna refused to enter the courtroom because she did not want to wear her prison jumper in court, but she also did not want to wear her designer outfit, because it had not been pressed.  After an hour and a half delay, she was forced to appear in court by the judge.

The defense during the trial explained that this was all just a misunderstanding, Anna had planned to pay all along, or that items and services had been given to her because she was an influencer on social media.  Her lawyer compared her to Frank Sinatra, claiming they both created a golden opportunity in New York City.  After two days of deliberations, the jury found Anna Sorokin guilty on eight charges including grand larceny in the second degree, attempted grand larceny, and theft of services.  She was found not guilty on two charges; one of attempted grand larceny in the first degree relating to the original loan application with City National Bank, and one of larceny in the second degree relating to the alleged theft of $62,000 from Rachel Williams in Marrakesh.

Before her sentencing, Anna stated, “I’d be lying to you and to everyone else and to myself if I said I was sorry for anything.” Anna was sentenced to 4 to12 years in state prison, she incurred a fine of $24,000 and she was ordered to pay restitution in the amount of $199,000 including $100,000 to City National, $70,000 to Citibank, and approximately two-thirds of the amount she owed to Blade.  She also owed her attorney $75,000.  To make sure she could cover the debts, Anna Sorokin sold the rights to her life story to Netflix and Shonda Rhimes for $320,000, this left Anna with a windfall of $22,000 left in her bank account.  Anna was not forced to pay $160,000 in legal fees owed to Perkins Coie related to the unsuccessful lease of Church Missions House, $65,000 in legal fees due to Gibson Dunn related to the unsuccessful $22 million loan application, and $30,000 in legal fees due to Lowenstein Sandler.

Anna had been housed at Rikers Island during her trial and she was not a model inmate, she incurred 13 infractions for things like fighting and disobeying orders.  She was placed in solitary confinement during Christmas.  After her conviction, Inmate #19G0366 was moved to Albion Correctional Facility, this is a medium security facility.

And just a small time ago, on February 11th, 2021, Anna Sorokin was released on parole.  After she was released, she checked into the NoMad hotel and hired a German camera crew to follow her around and film all of her activities. Six weeks after her release, in March 2021, Anna was taken back into custody by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE.  She had overstayed her visa and she is currently being held in New Jersey at a county jail awaiting deportation to Germany.  Anna is fighting her removal from the United States and in January of 2022 Anna tested positive for COVID-19 while in jail and had to be quarantined. 

If a life of fame or infamy was what Anna Sorokin wanted, she certainly attained it.  In July 2019, Rachel DeLoache Williams wrote a tell all article for Vanity Fair about her experiences with Anna including the details about the ill-fated trip to Morocco.  Rachel followed this article up with a book, Rachel’s book is titled, My Friend Anna.  Rachel received $300,000 for her book and she was also paid $35,000 by Lena Dunham who wanted to option the book for television rights, in the end Lena did not exercise her options and the rights have now returned to Rachel Williams.

Many television shows have done episodes on Anna as well, American Greed, Generation Hustle, 20/20, 60 Minutes and more. In late July of 2021, a stage play titled, Anna X opened in London and in February 2022 Netflix released Inventing Anna, which was created by Shonda Rhimes and stars the incomparable Julia Garner as Anna.  And lastly, Anna signed a deal to star in a reality TV show about her life, when she is out of prison.