Anna Sorokin, the millionaire socialite who infiltrated New York City‘s upper echelons before being exposed as a big-time scammer with a small-time bank account, has been sentenced to between four and twelve years in prison.
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A jury at Manhattan Supreme Court heard Russian-born Sorokin created the false identity Anna Delvey – a German heiress with access to a trust fund worth nearly AUD$85 million – and used that persona to rack up nearly AUD$285,000 worth of ill-gotten goods and services.
Across nearly four years, Sorokin attained extensive stays at luxury hotels with the promises of reimbursement. She also conned so-called friends, the operator of private jet flights, and attempted to fool a bank employee into extending her a AUD$142,000 line of credit.
The court heard that in the space of a single month, she dropped around AUD$78,000 on hotel stays, luxury fashion goods, and the other little (read: big) purchases which are expected of figures in the NYC elite.
Across that entire span, Sorokin kept her Instagram (which is still up and running!) filled with posts backing up her jetsetting lifestyle.
Sorokin was found guilty of four counts of theft of services, three counts of grand larceny, and one count of attempted grand larceny, but the jury stopped short of nailing her most ambitious alleged scheme: a plot to procure a loan valued at AUD$31 million with the goal of establishing an arts foundation in her name.
“I apologise for the mistakes I made,” Sorokin told the court.
That statement did not placate Judge Diane Kiesel, who used Thursday’s sentencing hearing to say Sorokin expressed no remorse for her crimes. At one point, the trial had to be paused after Sorokin expressed concerns over her courtroom outfit – which she hired a stylist to coordinate.
The length of her sentence will depend on her behaviour behind bars, and Sorokin is liable to face deportation at the end of her sentence.
Still, it’s unlikely this will be the last New York City hears of the daughter of a former truck driver. Netflix has snapped up the rights to her story, and an adaptation is coming from show-runner Shonda Rhimes.
