The fraudster known as the Fake Heiress, Anna Sorokin, has told how she takes being branded a ‘sociopath’ as a compliment as she discussed her crimes at length following her release from prison.
Sorokin, a Russian born German who moved to the US in 2013, was charged with grand larceny after she conned the New York elite for several years, pretending to be a rich heiress called Anna Delvey.
She was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison for her crimes in 2019, but was released early for good behaviour on February 11 and now temporarily lives at the NoMad luxury hotel in New York.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Sorokin, who refused to say whether she was ashamed of her crimes, and who faces deportation in Germany, said she was not a ‘penny pincher’ and that people who call her a ‘sociopath’ would refer to tech moguls Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk in the same words.
Anna Sorokin, 30, a Russian-born German fraudster who conned several New York socialites and banks for several years, said she didn’t mind being called a sociopath following her release from jail on February 11 (pictured during her trial in May 2019)
Sorokin has been living at the NoMad hotel in New York since her release from prison. She refused to say whether she regretted her crimes, but said all she could do was face the consequences of her actions (pictured on March 4)
‘I actually see it as a compliment because they see Mark Zuckerberg and Elon Musk and Steve Jobs as sociopaths, so if they mean it in that way, I’ll take it,’ she said.
Sorokin was arrested on six charges of grand larceny in 2017 for scamming New York acquaintances and hotels. According to the Manhattan District Attorney’s office, her theft totals around $275,000 (£198,699).
In total, Sorokin spent 21 months in Rikers Island in New York – the prison which has housed other criminals such as Harvey Weinstein, and 20 months at Albion Correctional Facility, a prison for women in upstate New York.
She said being in prison was an intellectual challenge where she had to figure out how she could get guards to get her things without being able to offer anything in exchange.
She also said she witnessed more drugs at Rikers than on the New York party circuit.
Before her arrest, Sorokin convinced City National Bank to loan her $100,000 (£722, 54) and forged bank documents to obtain another loan of £22 million to fund the Anna Delvey Foundation, a private arts members club she hoped to open.
The fraudster now faces possible deportation to Germany following her release (pictured in New York on March 4)
She said the project snowballed and that the only way to stop her was to put her in prison.
Her lawyers are currently paying her hotel bills with money she received after striking a deal with the streaming platform Netflix for $320,000 (£231,213) – most of which is being used to repay her bank loans, fines and legal fees.
Sorokin told the Times she enjoyed being in control, and was now looking for a bigger purpose to focus on.
She added she disliked being referred to as a fake heiress, and that it was not what she had set out to do when she started her streak of fraud.
‘I never felt like I came through pretending to be this heiress. There are so many rich people in New York, so who gives a f***? No one cares,’ she said, adding she’d never be able to impress with money in New York.
She referred to her crimes as cutting corners and shortcuts, but said she never expected to end up in jail for them.
While she admitted she had apologised to her parents for causing them stress, she said she felt that fraud seemed like a good idea at the time she conned hotels and friends – adding that all she can do now is face the music.
It was reported Sorokin used the prison phone to go on a shopping spree before getting out of jail, splashing on Celine sunglasses, a $720 (£520) Balenciaga hoodie and Alexander McQueen and Nike trainers.
She said she still had some money from her Netflix deal and other projects she was working on that had not been publicised.
Sorokin defrauded friends and banks and hotels off hundreds of thousands dollars during her stint at the mysterious oil heiress Anna Delvey from 2016 to 2017
In her first interview since being released, she added prison was a ‘pointless’ ‘waste of time’, called the prosecution against her an ‘insult to her intelligence’ and boasted that guards treated her like a ‘celebrity’.
On Twitter, she joked that the only job she would consider is creative director of Goldman Sachs. Last week, within hours of her release, she asked for $720million (£520million) from Fortress Investment Group. She also said ‘going to trial is the new sex tape’.
Sorokin duped friends, hotels and even banks into giving her money between 2016 and 2017.
She pretended to be the daughter of a mysterious oil baron in Europe and lived an exorbitantly expensive lifestyle in Manhattan without ever actually paying for it.
It came crashing down in 2017 after she took a friend, a Vanity Fair photo editor, to Marrakesh with her, racked up thousands in charges at hotels and then gave the photo editor the $62,000 bill (£44,797), promising to pay her back.
Now fresh out of prison, the fraudster went back to enjoying a life of luxury shopping sprees and lined up interviews with international press
Confirming she is writing a book Sorokin told Insider: ‘It’s going to be my take on the criminal justice system and my jail experience. My point is basically going to be like the pointlessness of the whole thing.
‘They just wasted everyone’s time and money.’
After cameras were seen following her around Manhattan over the weekend Sorokin said of ‘Anna Delvey TV’: ‘I’m just kind of filming everything I’m doing right now and I’m going to see what to do with it later.’
Explaining why she would still be using her fake name of Delvey, Sorokin added: ‘Why shouldn’t I? I’m a movement by myself.’
Sorokin had also asked fans on social media to tune in to a ‘live’ video where she promised a no-holds-barred Q&A but then disappointed them by only filming herself in the bathtub and not answering any questions.
How long Sorokin will be able to stay in the country remains a mystery. She is a German citizen and has no legal status in the US but has never been deported. ICE did not immediately respond to inquiries about her status on Monday morning.