Scammer Anna Delvey Denied Shorter Plea Deal After Judge Claims She Shows “Little Remorse”
Last April, Vanity Fair introduced the public to Anna Delvey — a fake socialite turned scammer who duped her closest friends into thinking she was a German heiress. Since being exposed for everything from running up $50,000 in unpaid hotel bills to defrauding international banks, Anna’s notoriety has skyrocketed and her story is officially being turned into a Netflix series by the one and only Shoda Rhimes. On Tuesday her saga continued when Anna, who pleaded not guilty to grand larceny and theft of services amounting to “approximately $275,000 through multiple scams,” returned to court and her attorney asked the judge to lessen her plea deal sentence from a maximum of nine years to three years.
Unfortunately for Anna, the judge was not moved and denied the request, stating that the defendant showed “little remorse” for her victims and she seemed “more concerned” about her publicity than the people she “allegedly took advantage of,” according to Jezebel. The judge isn’t completely wrong. In an interview with Paper magazine, her former friend Neff Davis revealed she is already planning which actress will portray her on screen. “Oh, Anna’s aware. She’s like, ‘Okay, as long as Jennifer Lawrence or Margot Robbie play me,'” Neff explained. “And I’m like everyone wants Lindsay Lohan to play you and she’s like, ‘Oh my god, no offense, but isn’t she like 30? My hair’s not even red anymore, did you tell them that?'” Are you listening, Shonda?
Despite her newfound popularity, which came at a price (she is sitting behind bars in Rikers right now without bond as she awaits her trial), many are still asking, who TF is Anna Delvey? If you want an in-depth look at Anna’s sordid (and slightly impressive) tale of deception, we highly recommend The Cut‘s piece titled, How Anna Delvey Tricked New York City’s Party People. However, if you want the dinner party version, we got you covered. So, first things first.
WTF did Anna Delvey do?
Where do we start? On the surface, Anna was a popular figure on the New York social scene who was hoping to launch a Soho House-type club focused on art. Known for her famous friends, including Macaulay Culkin and Pharma-bro Martin Shkreli (the first red flag, in our opinion), she was always at all the best parties wearing “really fancy clothing,” you know, doing her best socialite impression. However, her lavish lifestyle started to crumble when businesses started realizing that Anna was not actually paying and her not-so-rich friends were stuck with the bills.
Real-life footage of Anna Delvey.
Vanity Fair‘s Rachel Williams detailed how Anna duped her out of over $62,000 after a glam Morrocan vacation-turned-nightmare. “I was the victim of alleged grand larceny in the second degree — grand larceny by deception,” she wrote. “Anna told me once that her plans were either going to work out, or all go horribly wrong. Now I see what she meant. It was a magic trick — I’m embarrassed to say that I was one of the props, and the audience, too. Anna’s was a beautiful dream of New York, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.”
Her other friend, Neff, who met Anna while she was working at the NYC boutique hotel 11 Howard and narrowly avoided joining her on that doomed Morrocan vacation, detailed how Anna owed the hotel $30,000 after living there for weeks and realized something was very wrong when she couldn’t come up with the money. “Anna knew everyone,” Neff explained to The Cut.
How did she do it?
This is where Anna gets into major trouble. According to Rachel, who had access to Anna’s indictment, the “socialite” allegedly falsified documents from international banks showing accounts abroad with a total of 60 million euros. She took those documents to City National Bank, who denied her request for a $22 million business loan for that Soho House venture, but granted her $100,000. She used that money as collateral for Fortress Investment Group, who agreed to her loan if she covered legal and due-diligence expenses.
Anna ended up backing out of the loan, but used the remaining $55,000 from the City National Bank loan to finance her lifestyle — until it ran out. She also allegedly deposited $160,000 in bad checks into her bank account and was engaged in “check-kiting,” which involves taking advantage of the float to make use of non-existent funds. Basically, using checks as a form of unauthorized credit.
She was indicted on six felony counts and one misdemeanor charge, including grand larceny. She is currently awaiting trial in Rikers, but somehow managed to post a selfie on Instagram from the jail, proving she is still a magician.
So, who is Anna Delvey really?
Well, first of all, her real last name is Sorokin, not Delvey. And according to The Cut, she was born in Russia in 1991 and moved to Germany at the age of 16. She landed an lucrative internship at Purple magazine where she became Anna Delvey — thus beginning her life of deceit and social climbing at any means necessary. “My parents had high expectations. They always trusted me with my decision-making. I guess they regret it now,” she told the publication from behind bars. “I am very upset that things went that way and I didn’t mean for it to happen. But I really can’t do anything about it, being in here.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BYZy_H8l7Rr/
She also denied trying to be a socialite, adding, “I had dinners, but they were work dinners. I wanted to be taken seriously. If really wanted the money, I would have better and faster ways to get some.” Anna is currently facing three to nine years behind bars, but is expected to take a plea deal — even if her attorney couldn’t get her a lesser sentence.
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