Fraud charge 'German heiress' Anna Sorokin was 'seduced by glamour and glitz'
Anna Sorokin's story could go down in history with her alleged crimes being turned into a TV show by the Grey's Anatomy creator.
Thursday 28 March 2019 07:03, UK
A 28-year-old who bragged of a $60m fortune, mixed in celebrity circles and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle "has not a cent to her name", a court has been told.
Anna Sorokin is facing charges in New York over claims she swindled $275,000 (£208,000) from friends, banks and hotels for a taste of the high life.
She lived in luxury New York City hotel rooms she could not afford, promised a friend an all-expenses paid trip to Morocco and then left her with the $62,000 bill, and peddled bogus bank statements to secure a $22m loan, the Manhattan District Attorney's office has alleged.
Following her arrest in 2017, prosecutor Catherine McCaw said: "Her overall scheme has been to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with approximately $60m in funds being held abroad.
"She's born in Russia and has not a cent to her name as far as we can determine."
On Wednesday, the opening day of her trial, her lawyer said Sorokin never meant to commit a crime and insisted "she was easily seduced by glamour and glitz" after seeing how the appearance of wealth opened doors.
"Anna had to fake it until she could make it," he added.
Sorokin, who has been in custody since her arrest, faces deportation to Germany regardless of the outcome of the trial because authorities say she overstayed her visa.
However, her story is expected to live on through the small screen after Shonda Rhimes, the creator of Grey's Anatomy and Scandal, announced she is planning a television series charting her alleged crimes.
Sorokin arrived in a world of champagne and caviar in 2016, under the assumed name of Anna Delvey, and an expensive wardrobe.
She made a show of proving she belonged, by handing Uber drivers and hotel concierges $100 tips.
As she ingratiated herself in the New York party scene, prosecutors said, Sorokin started talking up plans to spend tens of millions of dollars building a private arts club with exhibitions, installations and pop-up shops. She thought about calling it the Anna Delvey Foundation.
But banks rejected her attempts to secure a $22m loan because she "did not have sufficient cash flow to make payments" and failed to verify her assets.
Prosecutors said she did manage to convince one bank to lend her $100,000 to cover due diligence costs, more than half of which she "frittered away on personal expenses in about one month's time".
Broke and facing a big bill at a Manhattan hotel in July 2017, Sorokin pleaded with a police officer that a bailout was on the way.
According to court documents, Sorokin said: "I have no money and no credit cards. I'm waiting for my aunt from Germany. She's going to pay."