Fake Heiress Anna Sorokin, Who Deceived New York Social Circle, Released

Netflix Drama 'Anna Mandulgi' Real Person
Imprisoned for 4 Years for Fraud and Detained Due to Visa Issues

Russian-German Anna Sorokin, who deceived New York high society by posing as a wealthy heiress, was released on the 7th. The photo shows Anna Sorokin. Photo by AP Yonhap News

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyunjung] Anna Sorokin, a Russian-German woman who posed as a wealthy European heiress and carried out fraud in New York's social scene, has been released from detention.

On the 8th (local time), foreign media including CNN reported that Sorokin was released the day before and placed under house arrest. Sorokin, who is also the real-life figure behind the Netflix drama "Inventing Anna," was released in February last year after serving four years for fraud but was soon detained by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her visa, spending 17 months in a correctional facility.

Judge Charles Conroy approved Sorokin's release on conditions including a $10,000 bail, prohibition from using social media, and wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet. Sorokin's side told CNN, "She is still under ICE supervision but can fight the U.S. government's deportation decision without physical detention."

Born in 1991 as the daughter of a truck driver in the outskirts of Moscow, Russia, Sorokin moved to Germany with her family in 2007. After leaving Germany, she lived in London and Paris before coming to New York in 2013, where she interned at a French fashion magazine. Having tasted high society there, Sorokin began her full-scale fraud by creating fake financial documents to secure large loans. Speaking English with a distinctive Eastern European accent, she introduced herself as "Anna Delvey," a German heiress with assets worth $60 million (about 85.5 billion KRW), living a luxurious life in upscale hotels and adorned with luxury goods using the loan money. The amount she defrauded from banks, hotels, and individuals totaled $275,000 (about 390 million KRW).

Eventually, she was arrested in 2017 following a report by Rachel Williams, a writer and photographer who was once her friend and was defrauded of $62,000 (about 88 million KRW) by Sorokin. Williams later earned a large sum by writing books and articles about her encounters with Sorokin. Sorokin is also known to have received $320,000 (about 456 million KRW) from Netflix for the drama based on her story.

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