The rise and fall of Delvey is explored through the eyes of Vivian (Anna Chlumsky), a fictionalized version of journalist Jessica Pressler who broke the wild true story in 2017, as well as from the perspective of others who they knew her, including her ex. Her-friend Rachel Deloache Williams (who is played by Katie Lowes on the series) who claimed Delvey scammed her out of thousands.
but making up anna conflates real-life people with fictional characters, and the show has been criticized by williams, who wrote in an air mail article that anna’s creator shonda rhimes and netflix had been misled by think that anna was “a special person”. and even inspiring person.”
added: “Netflix is not publishing a fictional story. It is effectively handling PR for a scammer and putting money in her pocket.”
every episode of the netflix series reiterates an amusing disclaimer: “this entire story is completely true. except for the parts that are completely made up.”
so who is the real anna delvey and what did she do? read on to find out how much of the story behind the netflix adaptation inventing anna is based on real life and how much they got wrong…
so who is the real anna delvey and what did she do? read on to find out how much of the story behind the netflix adaptation inventing anna is based on real life…
who is the real inventor of anna?
Anna Delvey, real name Sorokin, is a Russian-born woman who posed as a wealthy German heiress in order to swindle banks, hotels and New York socialites out of large sums of money.
The 31-year-old, who was born in Moscow before her family moved to Germany, moved to New York City in the summer of 2013 for fashion week while working for the French fashion magazine purple. She had previously been enrolled at Central Saint Martins in London, but she dropped out and moved to Paris, where she changed her surname from Ella Sorokin to Delvey.
once in new york, he transferred to purple’s capital office and began mingling with the wealthy members of the new york art scene, pitching his idea for the anna delvey foundation, a private club for members and an art foundation, to investors. .
Over the next five years, he swindled several acquaintances out of thousands of dollars by promising to pay for plane tickets and hotels and “forgetting” to pay them back, all while claiming he had family money. he also convinced banks to lend him hundreds of thousands of dollars and deposited fraudulent checks while defrauding hotels by avoiding giving a credit card.
what did anna sorokin do?
Between 2013 and 2017, Sorokin borrowed money from friends, including art collector michael xufu huang, who told new york magazine that he forgot to pay him back “two or three thousand dollars” for flights and a hotel reservation. hotel, though according to artnet, he said he was eventually paid from a venmo account under a different name.
in january 2016, anna sorokin threw a birthday party at sadelle’s in new york and hired a public relations firm to organize the party; However, Huang said the restaurant sent her a message a few days later, asking for her contact information as she hadn’t paid the bill.
the netflix series alleges that sorokin created fake bank statements while trying to raise funds for her anna delvey foundation and used them to apply for a $22 million loan from the city’s national bank, although this was not proven in court proceedings later.
He later went to fortress investment group, which said they would consider the request if sorokin provided $100,000 to cover expenses, so he returned to town and convinced an employee to give him a temporary overdraft for that amount, according to the new york. times. When Fortress became suspicious and tried to arrange meetings with bankers she claimed to have in Switzerland, she withdrew her loan application.
sorokin also defrauded citibank in 2017 by depositing $160,000 in fraudulent checks, of which he received $70,000, and managed to book a return flight with charter booking service blade without paying the $35,390 upfront fee , according to rolling stone.
p>
while in new york, sorokin stayed at several hotels, including the 11 howard hotel in soho, where he often tipped staff $100, concierge neffatari davis told new york magazine, but didn’t gave management a working credit card. pay for her charges. She paid the hotel $30,000 via wire transfer paid for by the city bank, but after she continued to rack up charges, the hotel changed the security code on her room and locked her out.
then moved into the beekman hotel, secured a room without giving a credit card and paid a bill of $11,518 over three weeks. The Beekman then evicted her after not paying, before moving to W New York Union Square, where she was kicked out after two days.
in may 2017, he invited three friends on an “all expenses paid” trip to marrakech in morocco and booked the hotel la mamounia. However, after a few days, the hotel staff said they couldn’t charge Sorokin’s credit card and requested payment, at which point Sorokin convinced her friend Rachel Deloache Williams to pay the $62,000 bill and promised to refund her when they will return home. new york but deloache williams said she didn’t.
the w hotels and beekman filed charges for theft of services and after the manhattan district attorney’s office launched an investigation into her bank fraud, sorokin was arrested on october 3, 2017. deloache williams wrote in time that he helped the district attorney’s office arrest sorokin by hosting a lunch with her near the halfway house where she had been staying.
In April 2019, a jury found Sorokin guilty on eight counts: grand theft, attempted grand theft, and theft of services. She was found not guilty on one count of attempted grand larceny in the first degree, related to the City National Bank loan application, and one count of larceny in the second degree, related to the alleged theft of $62,000 from Williams. /p>
She was sentenced to between four and 12 years in state prison, fined $24,000, and ordered to pay $199,000 in restitution.
where is anna sorokin now?
sorokin served her sentence at albion correctional facility and was released early on february 11, 2021.
She was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying her visa in March 2021 and held in the New Jersey County jail while awaiting deportation to Germany.
as reported by insider, netflix paid him $320,000 for the rights to his life story, however new york state froze his funding in 2019, stating that those convicted of crimes are barred from profiting from his advertising according to son of sam law. .
Netflix agreed to send future payments to an escrow account managed by Sorokin’s attorney and overseen by the Office of Victim Services, with $199,000 going to pay restitution to banks and $24,000 to settle state penalties.
anna’s invention hits netflix on friday february 11th. You can read our review of Anna’s Invention for more information. Check out our guides to the best Netflix series and the best Netflix movies, or find out what else is on with our TV guide.
the latest issue of radio times is now on sale; Sign up now to get each issue delivered to your doorstep. To learn more about TV’s biggest stars, listen to the Radio Times Podcast with Jane Garvey.
