Anna Delvey

Anna Delvey was born Anna Sorokin in 1991 in Russia. When she was 16 years old, her family moved to Germany, where she attended a high school in Eschweiler. She graduated high school in 2011, post which she got herself enrolled at an art school, ‘Central Saint Martins,’ in London. However, she dropped out of the art school and returned to Germany after a few months.

After returning to Germany, Anna began working at a public relations (PR) firm in Berlin, where she worked as an intern. In 2013, she moved to Paris where she landed an internship program with the famous fashion and culture magazine, ‘Purple.’ After landing the lucrative internship program, she changed her name from Anna Sorokin to Anna Delvey.

After changing her name, Anna adopted a new persona as a wealthy German heiress. She then moved to New York, where she pretended to be a wealthy woman with aspirations of launching a new business in the US. She befriended many by luring them with money. A concierge named Neffatari Davis, whom Anna befriended by tipping her with 100 dollar bills, was convinced of Anna’s ‘wealthy background.’ According to Neffatari, Anna knew almost everyone in New York’s elite social circle. Anna was also friends with high profile personalities like Macaulay Culkin and Martin Shkreli, which did not give people any reason to doubt her credibility.

In 2016, Anna took a bunch of fake documents to ‘City National Bank,’ where she tried to persuade the bank authorities to grant her a loan of $22 million. She claimed the loan was being applied to set up her dream business project, a ‘Soho House’ type of club. She then approached ‘Fortress Investment Group,’ which required a fee of $100,000 to cover due diligence. Anna managed to negotiate an overdraft amount of $100,000 from ‘City National Bank’ and later withdrew her loan application of $22 million. She then spent $55,000 (of $100,000 acquired from the City National Bank) on high-end hotels, restaurants, and shops.

In 2017, she made several attempts to deposit bad checks worth $160,000 into her bank account. She then went on a holiday to Marrakech after claiming to her friends that she would take care of the trip’s expense. Instead, she made one of her friends cough up $62,000 saying that she would repay the amount, which she never did. In July, Anna was arrested for trying to leave New York’s ‘Parker Meridien’ hotel without paying her bill. She was initially charged with three counts of theft of services for not paying her bills in hotels, including ‘Parker Meridien,’ ‘W Downtown Hotel,’ and ‘Beekman Hotel.’

In September 2017, Anna missed a court date in New York, for which she was arrested once again. This time around, she was arrested on several charges of grand larceny with damages estimated to be around $275,000. Post her arrest, the media began taking keen interest on her case, which made her more famous. In 2018, the ‘New York’ magazine published Anna’s story, the rights for which was subsequently acquired by the famous TV producer Shonda Rhimes.

Though Anna Delvey is currently cooling her heels in Rikers, her popularity seems to be on the rise. Not only are people discussing her antics on social media, but her incredible story of con and deception is all set to be made into a Netflix series. In fact, Anna’s ‘friend’ Neffatari Davis has signed a non-disclosure agreement, which forbids her from talking about the relationship she shares with Anna. Jessica Pressler, a correspondent of the ‘New York’ magazine, has signed a similar contract. While the Netflix series is sure to hit the screens, talks are on to make a feature film on Anna Delvey’s life. According to a source, various actresses, including Jennifer Lawrence are being considered to play Anna Delvey on the big screen.