Update: Anna Sorokin, the German national who faked being a rich heiress and inspired Netflix's Inventing Anna, is out of jail. The Guardian reports that Sorokin's attorney confirmed her release Friday from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention, where she'd been held since March 2021. "She will remain under the supervision of ICE, but will be able to fight her deportation free from physical custody," a member of her legal team tells CNN. Among the conditions of her release, per immigration judge Charles Conroy: Sorokin had to post a $10,000 bond; she's not allowed on social media; and she has to remain at the same residence around the clock during her release. ICE may also require Sorokin to use an ankle monitor. Her attorney confirms she's being transferred from Orange County Correctional Facility in New York to a home in Manhattan. Our original story from April 2021 follows:
She pretended to be a rich New York socialite named Anna Delvey. Now, con artist Anna Sorokin is in the custody of US immigration authorities and facing deportation to her native Germany. An Immigration and Customs Enforcement spokesperson tells the AP that Sorokin, 30, was detained on March 25 and is now being held in New Jersey's Bergen County Jail. Sorokin's time on the Manhattan scene included her posing as an heiress, swindling banks and hotels using fake paperwork to the tune of $275,000, according to prosecutors. They say she faked having a $67 million fortune stashed in a trust fund in Europe and claimed a father she sometimes said was an oil baron, other times a diplomat (he was actually an ex-trucker who ran an HVAC business).
Prosecutors say Sorokin even managed to get one bank to hand over to her a $100,000 overdraft loan, which she defaulted on. She kept up the charade for several years but was eventually busted and found guilty in April 2019 of various larceny and theft charges, per prosecutors. Sorokin, nicknamed the "SoHo Grifter," was soon after sentenced to four to 12 years in prison; she was released this past February. Insider had reported at the time of Sorokin's trial that no matter what happened with her criminal case, deportation was likely in the cards, as she'd overstayed her visa.
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The AP notes Sorokin had actually been set to be deported days ago, which suggests she's fighting the deportation order. Still, despite her legal troubles, the outlet notes that the business deals she's been working on are continuing, including an apparel line with fashion designer Paul Cupo (he says it's still on) and Sorokin's plans to sell NFTs of her prison blogs. The BBC notes Sorokin also received $320,000 from Netflix for the rights to her life story, some of which she used to compensate the victims of her fraud. (More Anna Sorokin stories.)
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