Anna Delvey, the notorious fake German heiress, is back

Fake it till you go to jail.

What a time to be alive. Harvey Weinstein has coronavirus, self-isolation has become part of our daily lexicon, communicating with your work colleagues only occurs via Zoom or Slack, and now notorious faux German heiress Anna Delvey has made a reappearance on the Internet.

If you’re not across Delvey – perhaps the ultimate 21st-century scammer – strap in for a quick rundown. It’s a wild ride. Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, posed as a German heiress and infiltrated the upper echelons of the New York social scene in the 2010s. She lived in five-star hotels, partied with celebrities and showered herself and those around her with designer gifts.

Actually a 28-year-old from a lower-middle-class Russian family, Sorokin fooled everyone around her with claims that she had a $67 million trust fund and eventually scammed New York businesses and her so-called friends out of $275, 000 USD.

She was charged with grand larceny and theft of services in 2017, and following a slew of media coverage, became known as the SoHo scammer. In April 2019, after a sensational trial where she often appeared in court in designer outfits – she hired a professional stylist for the trial, duh – she was found guilty and sentenced to four to 12 years behind bars.

Unsurprisingly, Jessica Pressler’s lengthy expose on Sorokin for New York Magazine in 2018 went viral and is now being turned into a Shonda Rhimes-produced television series. PSA: until the TV series arrives, if you’re looking for some excellent – and truly bonkers – long-form journalism to while away the hours you’re spending glued to your couch, then I can’t recommend Pressler’s piece enough.

But back to the present day. In a bizarre move, Sorokin appears to have announced her return today, via a hilarious Instagram post that features a text message bubble with the words “…but I’m too pretty to go to jail!” and a kiss emoji.

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A post shared by Anna Delvey (@theannadelvey) on Mar 23, 2020 at 11:40am PDT

With no official announcement on her release from prison, her followers and commenters were baffled. One asked “Do they have Internet in prison?”, while another simply said “QUEEN OF FINESSE, ICON.” Who knows what’s really happening with Sorokin, but for now, watch this very intriguing space.