“Come in!”
Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, barefoot and clad in a bathrobe, walked quickly through the living room of her fifth-floor walkup apartment in Manhattan’s East Village neighborhood. Stacks of books and newspapers occupied the small space in lieu of furniture. There was a hot pink neon sign adorning one wall with the phrase, "Happy F---ing Birthday," while empty pizza boxes leaned next to her front door. A notice on the entryway of her building stated the site was partially condemned, which Sorokin said was due to a broken trash chute.
The high-society scammer and convicted felon, who was dramatized in the 2022 Netflix series “Inventing Anna,” seemed to be in a hurry on the morning CNN spent with her in early June. But Sorokin had nowhere to go.
Convicted in 2019 of stealing more than $200,000 from financial institutions after pretending to be a German heiress with a trust fund that paid for a life of luxury in New York City, Sorokin has been under house arrest for the last eight months for overstaying her visa. She's confined to her apartment except for weekly visits to her parole officer and is prohibited from using social media. A GPS ankle monitor is her constant accessory.
Sorokin said she believes she belongs in New York and will hold out under house arrest for “as long as it takes,” while she appeals a deportation order to Germany where she was raised. Sorokin, born in Russia, was later naturalized as a German citizen, according to her attorney John Sandweg.
“There is evidence that demonstrates she would be deported from Germany to Russia and be persecuted,” Sandweg told CNN.
“I feel like, New York, if you have to be in house arrest anywhere, I think New York is like one of the better places for that,” Sorokin said.
Sorokin’s first name is painted on the exterior of the entrance to her apartment building.
A stack of newspapers is seen inside Sorokin’s East Village apartment.
She records a weekly podcast, hosts frequent guests and is able to order takeout from any restaurant of her choosing, but Sorokin said her current lifestyle has her emotionally like “somebody on your deathbed who people feel sorry for.”
“It's pretty upsetting to have to be here all day and not having an option to leave,” she said. “I think just mentally having to be in the same space all day, every day is taxing.”
Sorokin's situation is of her own making.
She first entered the national spotlight in a 2018 New York Magazine article in which her former friends described how they were scammed by her false stories and promises of a wealthy father who would cover her many debts. Her 2019 trial drew widespread attention, partly due to her over-the-top fashion choices in court. Sorokin was ultimately convicted of attempted grand larceny, three grand larceny counts and four misdemeanor charges of theft of service.
Then District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr. said in a statement at the time of her conviction, “As proven at trial, Anna Sorokin committed real white-collar felonies over the course of her lengthy masquerade.” He thanked the jury, prosecutors and investigators for their “resolve to ensure that Sorokin faces real justice for her many thefts and lies.”
CNN reached out to Vance for comment on Sorokin's immigration case, but he did not respond.
The exploits of a 20-something con artist who lived in luxury hotels, traveled on a private plane and ingratiated herself into New York society caught the attention of Hollywood super producer Shonda Rhimes, who created “Inventing Anna.” Despite her ample free time, Sorokin said she still hasn't seen much of the series. Sorokin’s publicist told CNN that Netflix paid $320,000 toward her restitution for her story.
“It’s a bit cringy to watch a parody of myself,” Sorokin said, adding that she feels she's been turned into a “caricature.”
A cardboard cutout of Sorokin hangs on a wall.
Sorokin shows off her GPS ankle monitor.
Sorokin served nearly all of her four-year prison sentence and was released in February 2021, but was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement the following month. She spent 18 months at the Orange County Correctional Facility in upstate New York, fighting deportation before she was released on a $10,000 bond last October.
Sorokin’s immigration attorney told CNN in a written statement that Anna ”is subject to extremely unusual and restrictive release conditions that prevent her from leaving her apartment or using social media.”
“We are optimistic that the Board of Immigration Appeals will agree that this home confinement is unnecessary, and that the social media ban infringes on her right to free speech, but Anna is required to adhere to these conditions while the case remains on appeal,” Sandweg added.
When reached for comment by CNN, a spokesperson for ICE did not comment on Sorokin’s case and directed us to the Executive Office for Immigration [EOIR], who referred CNN to the Department of Homeland Security, who directed us back to EOIR.
“I go through phases where I think this is just unbearable. And why should I be the only person under such conditions?” Sorokin said.
ICE used GPS ankle monitors in around 41,000 immigration cases in 2022, according to research by Syracuse University.
When pushed to explain what she meant by being singled out, Sorokin responded that the general public “automatically associate(s)” someone on house arrest or wearing an ankle bracelet ”with some crimes.”
“I’m wearing an ankle bracelet purely for immigration purposes,” Sorokin added. “There is no real reason for me to be on house arrest because I'm not a threat to public safety.”
“I don’t understand how me being on house arrest would prevent me from defrauding people,” Sorokin said, adding she had no plans to do so. “A geek could defraud people from anywhere in the world. You don't have to be in any location, period.”
Michael Wildes, an immigration lawyer and former federal prosecutor who reviewed Sorokin’s deportation appeal, called her asylum claim “questionable.” He is not involved in her case.
“We cannot forget that persons convicted of serious crimes, like Anna, place the United States in jeopardy,” Wildes told CNN. “Our asylum laws were drafted to protect people from torture in their home countries, and not to create a safe haven for criminals. Our immigration system may be broken in many ways, but we won't fix it by keeping Anna here.”
Sorokin carries a bag of trash outside.
Audio equipment is placed on a chair in Sorokin’s apartment.
When asked repeatedly if Sorokin had remorse for the crimes she committed, her responses were vague.
“I’m just trying to learn from my mistakes and move on. I obviously made a lot of bad choices,” she said. “I regret a lot of things I’ve done in the past.”
Yet after her conviction and the countless articles about her case, Sorokin denied that she ever described herself as an heiress and said her “intentions were never to deceive anybody.”
CNN reached out to Rachel Williams, a former friend who Sorokin left with a $62,000 credit card bill, but she did not respond. (Sorokin was found not guilty of a criminal count related to Williams, and a credit card company ultimately agreed to remove the charges after the verdict.) In the meantime, Williams said in legal filings she was “forced to borrow money to pay her rent and living expenses, and suffered great stress as a result of these debts and Sorokin’s repeated failures to keep her promises of reimbursement.”
In an interview with Vanity Fair last year, Williams described the experience with Sorokin as “the hardest thing I’ve gone through — the betrayal as much as the money.”
“Having been betrayed by someone I trusted — and to have been betrayed in a huge way. Her entire identity had been a complete sham. That really sends you into a ricochet of memories, looking back trying to look for all the signs you missed,” Williams said.
While Sorokin tries to distance herself from her past, she is planning for her future. She paints to pay her bills, claiming she does not receive outside help and that her artwork sells from $5,000 to $25,000.
”I’m paying for everything myself and it's mostly coming from my art,” she said.
Sorokin’s fridge is filled with various types of sparkling and bottled water.
A sculpture sits on the stove.
If she's allowed to stay in the US, Sorokin said she already knows what she'd like to do next.
“I’d love to move away from entertainment because that was never really my ambition to be famous,” she said. “I’d love to do something like an intersection between law and finance ... I am actually planning on doing an apprenticeship, maybe at a law firm.”
When asked what type of law interests her, she replied without irony, ”cross border risks.”
For now, Sorokin is staying put and waiting out her appeal.
“I’m definitely sad but I'm a hopeful person,” she said. “I have faith that I'll figure something out.”
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