Between 2013 and 2017, Russian con artist Anna Delvey stole an estimated $275,000 by making fake bank statements, cashing bad checks, and borrowing money from acquaintances without paying them back to maintain a lavish lifestyle under a false identity.
PhilipRomanoPhoto/Wikimedia CommonsCon artist and convicted felon Anna Delvey at a gallery opening in 2025.
In 2013, a 22-year-old woman who introduced herself as a German heiress named Anna Delvey began hobnobbing with New York socialites and fashion industry elites. She invited them out for drinks at expensive restaurants, bragged about the luxury hotels she was living in, and planned international vacations with her new acquaintances — but Delvey’s opulent lifestyle was hiding a twisted secret.
Anna Delvey wasn’t an heiress at all. She wasn’t even German. She’d been born Anna Sorokin to working-class parents in Russia, and she funded her lifestyle through fraud. Using fake wire transfer confirmations, invalid credit cards, and bad checks, she cheated hotels, banks, and even her friends out of an estimated $275,000 in just four years.
Delvey was arrested during a sting operation in October 2017, and she was ultimately convicted of grand larceny and theft of services. She spent three years in prison, and upon her release in 2022, she appeared on Dancing with the Stars, recorded a country song, and launched a podcast. Delvey’s story was so outrageous that it was even featured in the miniseries Inventing Anna starring Julia Garner.
So how did Anna Delvey carry out this years-long con?
The Early Life Of Anna Sorokin
Anna Delvey’s story began far from the glamor of New York City. She was born Anna Sorokin in January 1991 in Domodedovo, a quiet, working-class town near Moscow. Her early life was modest: Her father worked as a truck driver while her mother ran a small shop. Like many families in post-Soviet Russia, they were simply trying to make ends meet.
When Anna was 16, her family moved to Germany. They settled in a small town in North Rhine-Westphalia, and Anna enrolled in a Catholic grammar school. Although language was a barrier, she tried her best to fit in. However, while her classmates focused on school, Anna’s interests were on something else entirely.
She became obsessed with the world of fashion and luxury. She loved to read Vogue, and she dreamed of a life in which first-class flights, designer clothes, and glamorous art shows were the norm. After finishing school in 2011, she left for London to study at the art school Central Saint Martins.
Instagram/@theannadelveyAnna Delvey in April 2017, just months before she was arrested for running a four-year-long scam and stealing an estimated $275,000.
She dropped out of school after less than a year, first moving back to Germany and then to Paris. There, she landed an internship at Purple magazine, a trendy fashion publication. She began to portray herself not just as an intern but as the wealthy “Anna Delvey,” a German heiress with a large trust fund. She has since claimed that “Delvey” was derived from her mother’s maiden name, though her parents have denied this.
She continued using this fictional persona as she began yet another new life — this time in America.
Building An Illusion In New York City
In 2013, Anna Delvey moved to New York, and that’s when her real scam began. She used her internship at Purple to fit into Manhattan’s art and social scenes. But she wasn’t content with just observing — she wanted to be at the center of it all. Soon, she started talking about a bold — and expensive — idea. She wanted to start a private art foundation mixed with a members-only social club.
To pull it off, Delvey knew she needed more than charm: She needed cold, hard cash. So, she created fake financial documents to “prove” she had access to a hefty trust fund. She forged wire transfers, handed out fake checks, and convinced those around her that she was the real deal.
Bergen County Sheriff’s OfficeAnna Sorokin, a.k.a. Anna Delvey, after her 2017 arrest for grand larceny and theft of services.
Banks, hotels, and even her wealthy acquaintances fell for the act. She was staying in luxury hotels without paying a dime, attending exclusive parties, and rubbing elbows with New York’s elite.
“She managed to be in all the sort of right places,” someone who met Anna at a 2015 tech party in Berlin told The Cut in 2018. “She was wearing really fancy clothing, and someone mentioned that she flew in on a private jet.”
From the outside, Delvey seemed unstoppable. But behind the designer clothes and Instagram selfies, her empire was built on lies — and it was only a matter of time before the whole illusion came crashing down.
How Anna Delvey’s Scam Unraveled
By early 2017, Delvey had managed to get a $100,000 overdraft from City National Bank, but she promised it would be covered by her “trust fund.” Using fake emails and forged documents, she even fabricated a business manager who conveniently “died” when investigators probed deeper into her crimes.
With that money, she paid some delinquent hotel bills, but she also splurged on designer clothing, beauty treatments, and personal trainers. At the boutique hotel 11 Howard, Anna was well-liked. She always tipped the staff generously, but she never provided a valid credit card. When the hotel tried to evict her, she bizarrely purchased the names of the hotel’s managers as website domains and demanded a $1 million ransom to turn them over.
Then, in May 2017, she invited friends on an “all expenses paid” vacation to a luxury resort in Morocco. Of course, Delvey’s credit card was declined at the hotel, leaving her close companion, Rachel DeLoache Williams, with a $62,000 bill. Williams soon realized she was not the only victim of Delvey’s scams and alerted authorities.
Back in New York, Anna bounced between hotels without paying, dined and dashed, and wrote bad checks to cover expenses. By mid-2017, she was homeless, estranged from her former friends, and on the radar of prosecutors.
John Marshall Mantel/ZUMA Wire / Alamy Live NewsAnna Delvey at trial in New York City in March 2019.
Anna Delvey was ultimately arrested in October 2017 during a sting operation while at a rehab facility in Los Angeles. Her 2019 trial was a media sensation, as she arrived daily in designer outfits with stylists in tow. The public was captivated by her fashion and charm despite the serious charges against her.
Delvey’s crimes also led to her becoming estranged from her family. Her parents notably did not attend her trial, and her father publicly disowned her, saying he had no control over her choices.
On April 25, 2019, she was convicted of grand larceny and theft of services. Anna Delvey was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, fined $24,000, and ordered to pay nearly $199,000 in restitution.
Meanwhile, her story inspired Netflix’s Inventing Anna, created by Shonda Rhimes and based on Jessica Pressler’s article in The Cut. Delvey reportedly earned $320,000 from the deal, the majority of which went directly to her restitution payments and legal fees.
Delvey was released from prison in February 2021, but she was immediately detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for overstaying her visa. After another 18 months in custody, she was released on bail in late 2022 under strict conditions, including house arrest and a social media ban.
Instagram/@theannadelveyAnna Delvey poses with her ankle monitor in a promo shot for Dancing with the Stars.
Anna Delvey hasn’t faded away quietly, however. In 2023, she launched a podcast called The Anna Delvey Show, and in 2024, with permission from ICE, she appeared on Dancing with the Stars. She wore her ankle monitor with a bedazzled cover, but she and her partner were eliminated during the first episode.
Delvey is currently living under house arrest in Manhattan, but she remains active in New York’s fashion and media scenes. She even walked a runway during Fashion Week while wearing her ankle monitor. She continues to navigate ongoing legal challenges, including deportation proceedings, while her story remains one of the most daring and strange cons in recent history.
After learning about Anna Delvey, read about Rita Crundwell, the woman who stole $53 million from her town. Then, discover the stories of nine of history’s biggest con artists.
