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In 2018, Anna Delvey became a household name, thanks to a captivating article by Jessica Pressler in New York Magazine, titled “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It.” The piece detailed Delvey’s meteoric rise in the New York social scene.
Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, managed to fool much of Manhattan’s elite into believing she was a wealthy German heiress. In reality, she was far from it. She befriended influential figures, convincing them to fund her lavish lifestyle, including luxury vacations and investment ventures, while she racked up unpaid bills at high-end hotels. Her audacious acts of deception made her a subject of fascination, especially because many saw her crimes as “victimless,” given that she was mainly targeting the rich.
It’s hard to feel too bad for the affluent people she scammed, many of whom didn’t face any life-altering financial consequences. In fact, some viewed Delvey as a sort of anti-hero — except she wasn’t American, but rather from Russia. Eventually, her façade crumbled, and her so-called friends turned on her. When millions of dollars are at stake, loyalty disappears. Delvey’s fraud was exposed, and it turned out that deceiving the wealthy elite is indeed a criminal offense.
Was Anna Delvey sentenced to prison?
After swindling roughly $200,000 from her high-society marks, Delvey faced the consequences. She was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for grand larceny and other theft-related charges. However, she only served two years before landing in ICE custody for overstaying her visa. Delvey claimed that the visa debacle wasn’t her fault and later shared, via Business Insider, that she contracted COVID-19 while in custody and was denied a booster shot.
Despite her legal troubles, public fascination with Delvey only grew. Netflix capitalized on this by releasing Inventing Anna, a miniseries produced by Shonda Rhimes. Julia Garner, an Emmy-winning actor, portrayed Delvey, complete with her distinctive Eastern European accent. Anna Chlumsky played a fictionalized version of Pressler, the journalist who chronicled Delvey’s case. Stories of fraudsters have always captivated people, and Delvey’s tale had an extra layer of intrigue—she managed to pull off her schemes for years, and in today’s “Eat the Rich” climate, her wealthy victims didn’t garner much sympathy.
What is Anna Delvey doing now?
Delvey is now out of custody but remains under house arrest, wearing an ankle monitor. Yet, even that hasn’t stopped her from landing one of the most unexpected post-prison gigs: appearing on Dancing With the Stars. She’s set to compete in season 33, ankle monitor and all. While it might seem odd to see a convicted con artist on a major reality show, it aligns with the strange reality of modern celebrity culture. For Delvey, her time behind bars is already a distant memory.