The controversial public figure first grabbed headlines in October 2017 when she was arrested for impersonating a German heiress, managing to deceive banks, hotels, and individuals out of more than $200,000. In 2019, she was convicted on eight theft-related charges and spent nearly four years behind bars, including time at New York City’s infamous Rikers Island.
In addition to a $24,000 fine, Anna Delvey was ordered to pay approximately $199,000 in restitution.
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Anna Delvey Talks Post-‘DWTS’ Life
Convicted fraudster Anna Delvey is now setting her sights on an upcoming documentary aimed at “reclaiming her narrative” following her recent elimination from “Dancing with the Stars,” she told Newsweek.
The con artist was sent home from the reality series on Tuesday after performing to “Suddenly I See” by KT Tunstall alongside her professional partner, Ezra Sosa. Now, Delvey has shifted her focus to the documentary and stated that she has “no plans to be on another reality show.”
Anna Delvey’s captivating story already inspired the 2022 Netflix miniseries “Inventing Anna.”
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“That wasn’t a docuseries; it was fiction,” Delvey said of the project. “Before each episode, it says, ‘It’s all true, except for whatever is made up.’ It’s not up to me to sit here and dissect Shonda Rhimes’ vision or interpretation. It is what it is.”
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Anna Delvey Gets Convicted
Anna Delvey, born Anna Sorokin, spent much of her childhood in Germany. Raised in a middle-class family, her father worked as a truck driver, while her mother ran a small convenience store.
At 19, she left Germany to pursue a fashion degree in Paris, eventually adopting the persona of Anna Delvey. In the summer of 2013, she attended Fashion Week in New York for Purple Magazine, where she was employed at the time, and made the decision to settle in the city.
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While living in New York City, Delvey presented herself as a wealthy German heiress, successfully infiltrating the inner circles of the city’s elite socialites. During her time in the city, she scammed numerous individuals, hotels, and banks, often relying on invalid credit cards and fake bank statements to maintain the façade of affluence.
She even devised the concept of the Anna Delvey Foundation, a private club and arts organization, to attract wealthy donors and bolster her image.
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Anna Delvey Cut Ties With Her Parents
On April 25, 2019, Anna Delvey was convicted of eight charges in the State Supreme Court in Manhattan, including attempted grand larceny in the first degree, grand larceny in the second and third degrees, and theft of services.
The following May, she received a sentence of four to twelve years in state prison, along with a $24,000 fine and a restitution order of approximately $199,000
Since her conviction, Delvey has cut ties with her parents, who did not attend her trial. Her father has publicly stated that he has disowned her, expressing to DailyMailTV in April 2019, “I do not have any influence on her life and what she does. It is down to her what she has done.”
What Is Anna Delvey Doing Now?
In July 2023, Delvey made her debut in the music scene with the release of a song titled “What the Hell?” featuring TikTok star and country singer Brooke Butler. The track serves as the theme song for Sorokin’s podcast, “The Anna Delvey Show,” which she launched in June of that year.
In a February 2022 open letter to Insider, Anna Sorokin shared her perspective on the Netflix series based on her life, stating that “nothing about seeing a fictionalized version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me.”
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What Did Anna Delvey Say In Her Open Letter?
“For a long while, I was hoping that by the time ‘Inventing Anna’ came out, I would’ve moved on with my life,” she wrote. “I imagined for the show to be a conclusion of sorts summing up and closing of a long chapter that had come to an end.”
“Nearly four years in the making and hours of phone conversations and visits later, the show is based on my story and told from a journalist’s perspective,” she added. “And while I’m curious to see how they interpreted all the research and materials provided, I can’t help but feel like an afterthought, the somber irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself.”
On October 5, 2022, she was granted release from an ICE facility in Orange County, New York.