By Yesenia Romero

May 16, 2025

We all crave the feeling of fame, of wealth. It's a desire we can't help but be drawn towards. Luxury services, never ending cash flow, endless champagne and infinite vacations, you'd be lying if you said you didn't believe at least a little of the phrase “money buys happiness”. label her with any title you can; a con artist, a fraud, fake friend, wannabe socialite but remember the name, Anna Delvey. Maybe she would have scammed you, but you would have wanted to be her too. Anna built a name for herself, in two ways. The first being she actually changed her last name from Sorokin to Delvey and has gone by that since and the second being while everyone thought they had seen the end of a grand scale scheme, she came out with an even bigger name and even more fame. 

Born on January 23, 1991, Anna grew up in a small town just outside Moscow called Domodedovo but around the age of 16/17 the Sorokin family emigrated to Germany. Her father, Vadim Sorokin, worked as a truck driver and later went on to have executive positions in the heating and cooling business. Her mother owned a small store for a while but after the move she stayed as a housewife. Anna did not stay in Germany too long, at the age of 19 she left to pursue a fashion degree in Paris. This is where she would then adopt the infamous name ‘Anna Delvey’. In 2013 Anna went to New York fashion week on behalf of Purple magazine, a trip that was only supposed to be temporary and ended up lasting for an indefinite stay. 

While staying in New York Anna was able to successfully convince people she was a very wealthy German heiress. From 2014 to 2015 she attended the best parties, hosting huge dinners with huge names from CEO’s to athletes and celebrities. Everywhere she went she knew someone and someone knew her. On top of that she tipped very generously in cash, everytime. Part of the reason her scheme held up so well was the fact that the name Anna Delvey was absolutely adored, no one had suspected one fib in her story. How her money came from the family business and her father was in the oil industry, or worked with technology, or was in the solar business. It would change depending on who she had spoken too at the time. And by creating fake documents and members clubs she was able to prove to the banks that a trust fund was in an account overseas for her. With that, Citibank granted her a $70,000 loan as well as an additional $100,000 loan from Fortress Investment Group. There were even attempts at getting a $22 million loan from the City National Bank but Anna would immediately pull out if she saw the banks were skeptical. She played the role of a wealthy heiress very well. She had the money, the clothes, the friends and connections but what was all of it for? 

The ADF, also known as The Anna Delvey Foundation, was Anna's dream. She wanted a space that was filled with the best art, had its own restaurants and a bakery, even its own studios. This was the next step she needed to take in order to truly create a name for herself. She had the money to live lavishly but not for the ADF. A millionaire art collector was actually working very closely with her on this project but pulled out when she wasn't able to pay on more than one occasion. And he wasn't the only one that noticed a lack in Anna's funds. Some hotels started catching on when they had finally realized there was a great possibility she wasn't going to pay them back. She was kicked out of the 11 Howard Hotel in Soho and ended up owing them approximately $30,000. This was just the beginning of her fall. The real mishap and what unveiled the real Anna Delvey was the Morocco trip. 

In June of 2017 Anna took three friends, Rachel Williams, her personal trainer Kacy Duke and a videographer on a fabulous “all expense paid” trip to Morocco. The villa they stayed in was around $7,000 a night with a private pool, a courtyard and three bedrooms. Shortly into the trip Kacy ended up actually leaving back home due to a bad case of food poisoning or maybe it was pure intuition. This left just Anna, Rachel and the videographer, who was there because Anna wanted to get familiar with a camera to eventually document the making of ADF when the time came. There was only one issue, Anna actually had no money at this time and the hotel was catching on. Her scheme was unfolding rather quickly and Rachel was front row to it all. Anna's card started declining at shops and restaurants and Rachel would cover the charge while Anna promised to pay it back. Things got a little different when the hotel confronted Anna and demanded that a functional card needed to be given right then and there. They actually weren't even supposed to be booked without one on file. As Anna claims she's messaging with her bank, Rachel is the one that puts down a card. Her card is only supposed to be used as a ‘hold’, not to actually be charged, little did she know she'd get left with a $62,000 bill at the end of it all. Rachel had left Morocco a day before Anna and as soon as she got back home a text from Anna came through saying she’d send a wire transfer of $70,000. Days went by and it never came but oddly, Anna had checked into the Beekman and invited Rachel to their regular workout sessions as if nothing was wrong but something did.

In July of 2017, The Beekman locked Anna out of her room for two days as there is no working card on file and her bill stood at over $11,000. She was arrested for the first time after being reported by both The Beekman and The W but was released after hiring Todd Spodek as her defense lawyer. Just a few days later she convinces her personal trainer to house her which does not last long, she got the boot the next day. Anna, still spiraling at this time, struggling to find a place to stay, deposited two bad checks and was able to withdraw $8,200 in cash which allowed her to take a “planned” trip to California. On August 17, Anna checks into the Passages Malibu, a rehabilitation center. 

After not speaking with Anna for about a month, Rachel reaches out asking to take her to lunch. She began investigating on her own months before and started working with the police to track her down. The next day, October 3, 2017, Anna is arrested for a second time by the Los Angeles Police Department while on her way out to meet with good friend Rachel. She was charged in Manhattan during late October with two counts of grand larceny in the first degree, three counts in the second degree and one in the third degree. Along with also being charged for theft of services for fraudulent loan applications , forged check deposits, and the Morocco trip.

The trial of Anna Sorokin began in March of 2019 and lasted about a month. On the 25th of April, after a two day discussion, Anna was found guilty on eight charges excluding the Morocco trip and her original loan application with City National Bank. She was sentenced to 4-12 years imprisonment and fined $24,000 as well as legal fees of $75,000. She was able to pay all this back with the $320,000 she got from Netflix for her story rights.

Jumping forward to February 11, 2021, Anna was released from prison on parole. She had checked into the NoMad Hotel but was again arrested in March by Immigration for the overstay of her visa. She appealed this decision and has since been still fighting it. Currently she’s been on house arrest and electronic monitoring and runs any public events by U.S. immigration. 

Anna Delvey, Anna Sorokin, whatever her name is, you know her and just when you thought you’d seen the last of her she shows up on the 33rd season of Dancing with the Stars. With a current net worth of $50,000, the name Anna Delvey lives on lavishly. She’s been to Fashion week, runway shows, making podcasts, writing a book, working on collabs with Julia Fox and New York Times as well as Paris Hilton and her reality show. Oh and you can see the jail cell out since now she’s residing in a Manhattan building with rooms going anywhere from $4,000 to over $15,000 a month. She was never joking about being rich, it just hadn’t happened yet.