Anna Sorokin, The ‘Soho Grifter,’ Sentenced To A Minimum Of Four Years In Prison
Anna Sorokin, who masqueraded as a German heiress named Anna Delvey, has been sentenced to a minimum of four years — and a maximum of 12 years — behind bars in New York. She has also been ordered to pay restitution to her victims, plus a fine.
Town & Country says that Sorokin was arrested in 2017, going on to be charged with grand larceny and theft of services for scamming people, businesses, and banks out of $275,000. Sorokin, who adopted the alias of “Anna Delvey,” was found guilty at the end of last month. According to District Attorney Cyrus R. Vance Jr., Sorokin was found guilty of “attempted grand larceny, three grand larceny counts and a misdemeanor charge of theft of services.”
The case had already made headlines, but when Sorokin hired a stylist for the trial, it took on a new — nearly surreal — fashion angle. Sorokin hired Anastasia Walker to consult on her courtroom looks, kitting her out in designer duds. The end result made proceedings seem more like a catwalk than a courtroom.
Walker says she sent clothing by designers ranging from Victoria Beckham to Saint Laurent to the so-called “Soho grifter.”
“Anna and I talked on the phone about what she was interested in wearing. I couldn’t show her photographs, but as people interested in fashion, we spoke in references about the themes she wanted to come through [in her outfits]. I selected some timeless pieces, given that everything is so public today and [trial] photographs can be saved, potentially, forever.”
Tomorrow's cover: Fake heiress Anna Sorokin gets 4 to 12 years in prison for high-society scam https://t.co/hJL6T1Hakp pic.twitter.com/vhZ8CQlUa8
— New York Post (@nypost) May 9, 2019
While Sorokin seemed most concerned with how she looked in court, Judge Diane Kiesel said she was “stunned by the depth of the defendant’s deception,” per The Washington Post.
Sorokin was a Russian immigrant who moved to Germany, and was decidedly not the daughter of an oil bigwig or a diplomat, which was allegedly the story she frequently told her targets.
BBC News says that, as she was sentenced, Sorokin apologized in a brief statement to the court.
“I apologize for the mistakes I made.”
Sorokin, who rejected a plea deal before her trial, will likely be deported back to Germany after she serves her time in a New York prison. She will get credit for time served, as she has been in custody at New York’s Rikers Island prison complex since 2017.
The amount of time Sorokin actually serves will be based on her behavior behind bars, but Assistant District Attorney Catherine McCaw said that Sorokin showed “almost no remorse.”
