Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - Fake Heiress Anna Delvey Claims "EXPLOITATION"

Episode Date: October 5, 2024

Fake German heiress Anna Sorokin conned her way into Manhattan society. Posing as Anna Delvey, a German heiress, she swindled banks, hotels, and friends out of more than $200,000. She forged checks to get money from banks and charmed people into paying for extravagant meals, and travel. Sorokin was convicted on a handful of grand larceny and theft of services charges. After serving her time, the 31-year-old was released from prison, now, fighting being deported, but again Sorokin falls on her feet. First, she landed a deal with Netflix for the rights to her life story, then began selling her artwork, and then Sorokin says her home confinement and social media ban is “more restrictive” than jail. Now, Delvey shines with her bedazzled ankle monitor on  ABC’s “Dancing With the Stars.” The glitz didn't last long however,  with Delvey exiting the competition after just two week.. She says the network and show used her to drive up ratings.    Joining Nancy Grace Today: Wendy Patrick: Trial Attorney & author of “Red Flags” Jeff Cortese: Former FBI supervisory special agent Dr. William July: Psychologist John Lemley: Crime online investigative reporter See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Why won't this woman go away? She has scammed so many so-called friends out of so much money, reportedly nearly $200,000. And let me assure you, that is a conservative estimate. Of course, I'm talking about the fake socialite, Anna Delvey, aka Anna Sorokin. Remember her? She conned so many people out of, oh gosh, so much more than $200,000 because she claimed she was starting some sort of an art studio. Oh gosh, what should I call it? An art studio club of sorts in New York. Well, long story short, after conning friends out of vacations,

food, loans, hotels, fancy outfits, designer clothes, she finally was convicted for Pete's sake. But that's not over. This woman actually gets a slot on Dancing with the Stars. And of course, she has whined and complained the entire time. She could have made nearly $300,000. But oh, H-E-L-L-N-O. I bet the viewers and the staff got tired of this one. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories.

Thank you for being with us. That's right. In the last days, the fake heiress, Anna Delvey, actually comes out and complains that Dancing with the Stars exploited her for attention. Wait, let me understand this. That's bass-ackwards, technical legal term. They, Dancing with the Stars, could have picked anybody in the country to be on their program, but they didn't. They picked her and her ankle monitor, I might add, which she bedazzled. That's not a crime. I'd be mad if you didn't, Anna Delvey. But then to come off the show after an early elimination and slam the show. That's right. She speaks out after being eliminated from Dancing

with the Stars in week two. Did she ever think she's a bad dancer? Dancing with her is like pushing a grocery cart around with a bad wheel. Did that ever dawn on her? Well, the formerly incarcerated socialite, and that's certainly stretching it, was criticized by Dancing with the Stars hothead, but he's a heck of a dancer, I can tell you that much, Max Schmorkowski. And she says she, quote, doesn't feel she was given a fair chance. She said, quote, I feel the show so obviously used me to drive up the ratings. They never had plans to give me any chance to grow and only cared about exploiting me for attention. Well, if that is not the pot calling the kettle black. Whoa. Okay. You know what? How did she even get on Dancing with the Stars?

Because she's, well, some people think she's pretty. I don't, but some people do. A so-called pretty socialite that would hold up court, believe it or not, because she didn't like her outfit. That's right. She wouldn't put one toe in the courtroom without the correct designer outfit. I don't know how the judge put up with that. She goes on and says Dancing with the Stars is, quote, predatory to try to make me feel inadequate and stupid, all while I did get progressively better. Yet they chose to disregard that. Hello, woman. All of us felt inadequate and stupid. You're dancing with a pro that is a fantastic dancer, and you're just trying to hobble along with them and not look like a complete idiot. Everybody feels that way. No one else other

than them are trained dancers. But Dancing with the Stars is not really the point right now. The point is that this fraud, this con person, Anna Delvey, the formerly incarcerated so-called socialite, is now whining that somebody paid her to put on beautiful outfits, get her hair and makeup done, and dance on TV. Really? What's not to love? Let's take a little flashback. With an extravagant lifestyle and a seemingly endless supply of money, Delvey was an enigma that was made for the age of Instagram. Always at the right place with the right people, living her best life, but with no apparent cause for her fame. Her circle of acquaintances was fed various stories as to how she accumulated her vast wealth. Her father was a Russian billionaire,

a Russian diplomat, an oil tycoon, a Russian antiques collector, or a solar energy capitalist. While many parts of Delvey's story were fluid, some things were consistent. Delvey made no effort to hide her internship at the Paris magazine Purple and made it very clear that her dream was to open a Soho house for art. An, quote, upset fake German heiress, Anna Sorokin, guilty of grand larceny after a life of fake, ripping people off to nearly a quarter of a million dollars that we know of. Who would believe a Russian heiress and fork over thousands of dollars? And in court, she was more upset about her designer clothing wardrobe than she was about being found guilty. Now, that's unusual. This girl, Anna Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, somehow manages to con Soho Elite out of a quarter of a million dollars. Joining me in all-star lineup, Jeff Cortese,

former FBI special agent, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags, Dr. William July, psychologist, and John Limley, CrimeOnline.com investigative reporter, John Limley. Help me out. This girl shows up. Her skin is so pale. She looks like a ghost. And she's got this long brown hair, parted, usually slightly on the side, big glasses. And the hair hangs down like curtains over her face. You can barely see the eyes. You know, the hair is so close down.

I can't see her face. That makes me suspicious. But who would buy into, my dad is a close down. I can't see your face. That makes me suspicious. But who would buy into my dad is a Russian billionaire. Give me your money. Oops, I forgot my credit card. What happened? Let's just start at the beginning. Well, Nancy, apparently a lot of people were just hungry to buy into this story.

If New York City is a city of dreams, which we hear it called all the time. Anna had enough for the entire island. She had longed to be a member of the upper echelon of Manhattan society. Let me understand something, John Lindley, Crime Online investigative reporter. Did you just call her giant fraud, ripping people off tens of thousands of dollars, including one woman that took the stand, a working class person who goes on an all expense paid trip with her to Morocco. And then she gets stiffed with a $65,000 bill.

Wait, are you calling that a dream? Wait, how dare you even say? One person's dream is another person's nightmare. Don't offend yourself with cliches. Don't offend yourself with cliches. Don't. The American Dream, my rear end, Jeff Cortese, I call it something a lot different than the American Dream. Oh, absolutely. I mean, this was a, at least on the front end, a well-executed fraud. Over the long term, it didn't have the legs to remain sustainable.

The long term, I mean, she managed to pull it off, Wendy Patrick, for, you know, what, two years? I forgot how long she managed to pull the wool over everybody's eyes. Going on trips to Morocco, staying at, I think it's 11 Howard, some ritzy, I don't even know how you find that hotel in New York. It's one of those places I don't think is even marked. Only rich people go there. Wendy Patrick, what happened to John Limley, the voice of reason? He just called this the American dream. What? Well, I think John Limley, what he was talking about is there are some misguided, vulnerable people that really are subjected to social predators like Anna. And some people just are

absolutely, you guys mentioned the glamour, the glitz. It's like they want to Anna. And some people just are absolutely, you guys mentioned the glamor, the glitz. It's like they want to believe. And this fake it till you make it lifestyle. Nobody even took the time to say, show me the money, show me the funds, show me the corroboration behind your wild stories. Because caught up in the moment in an Instagram savvy society,

people want to be in the company of people like Anna. And sadly, as a prosecutor, I am just we are just absolutely just terrified of people like this that are able to so easily infiltrate our social network. Dr. William July, psychologist, author of A Dark Night, did acquit her off, which I was shocked about because this girl actually took the stand. Grand larceny for allegedly stealing $62,000 from a friend that she said, come along, I'll pay for everything on a trip to Morocco. Okay, I think they actually punished the friend. Because when you go on a luxurious trip to Morocco, you stay in a five star hotel. They went to spa treatments that were costing like three hundred dollars a treatment, whatever that treatment may be. Laying in mud, getting their nails, whatever. Three hundred. I think they the jury punished that friend for going along with the excess.

Dr. July. Yeah, I mean, at worst, Nancy, what you're looking at in cases like this, at worst, is a psychopathological level of narcissism. At best, what you're looking at is a person who has so much greed and desire to please herself that she doesn't care what the consequences are for other people. You were asking earlier, and I just want to address what you were asking earlier about why and how can this sort of thing happen? We're all baffled when we see this, but it's age old. It's a tale as old as time. The charlatan comes in and fools everyone.

So there's a part of people that are looking at this who want to believe this because they want to hang out with a person who has these types of social credentials. And they want to believe that she's an heiress so that they can be with her. And people are blaming social media. It's not the fault of social media. Social media is just a facilitator to the neediness of other people who want to believe and accept it. Are you piling on everybody on the panel except Cortese? No, no. Thank goodness.

He keeps talking about the Instagram society. You know what? Instagram didn't have a dang thing to do with this. It was all Miss Thing. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Possibly raking in $295,000, yet she's whining, creating even more of a firestorm. Delvey had a shocking reply when co-host Julianne asked what she would take away from her experience, and she said, nothing. Wow. The following day on GMA, she said her favorite part of the experience was, quote, getting eliminated. Well, I'm sure Dancing with the Stars feels the very same way,

but let's take a walk down memory lane. Her parents, hardworking, middle-class people that she borrowed a ton of money, borrowed, i.e. stole a ton of money from them as well. Hey, but she didn't just create a different identity. Her parents, I think the dad drives a truck. And I know that's like my dad, as you know, worked on the railroad. My mom started as a bank teller. My grandfather drove an ice truck and a school bus, anything to put the food on the table. But she not only assumed different an identity for herself, but she also created a whole team of imaginary assistants. An assistant, an accountant, a manager. Limley, is this true? All of her imaginary assistants? Well, and some were not so imaginary. She even

had the concierge at a hotel, essentially on her staff at her beck and call. She was able to convince people of not only her wealth, but all of her aspirations, her dreams. She really wanted to build this members-only arts club on Park Avenue South and was even working to get the financing for it and was not too far away. This John Lindley, she lied to a bank using phony records. Anna went too far when she attempted to take out a loan for $22 million to finance a visual arts center she called the Anna Delvey Foundation. In all, Anna reportedly scammed a total of $275,000. Anna's double life began to crumble as hotels went after her unpaid debts and banks began to investigate her alleged assets.

Wow. That's Jesse Palmer over at Daily Mail TV. Wow. as hotels went after her unpaid debts and banks began to investigate her alleged assets. Wow. That's Jesse Palmer over at Daily Mail TV. Wow. OK, so friends and acquaintances say Sorokin spent years playing the part of an art-obsessed German heiress. Sometimes she'd be Russian, sometimes she'd be German. She had an accent to go with it. Rubbing shoulders with the fashion elite at Paris Fashion Week. Frequently spotted in London night spots. Then those who knew her saw her at a party in Berlin.

She told everybody she had just flown in on a private jet. How did she pull it off? Scamming nearly $300,000. It was only when these ritzy hotels in New York went after her to pay her bills that the whole thing fell apart. But what really amazed me, you know, I don't know if you do this or not. Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags on Amazon. Wendy, under the Constitution, you can't force a defendant into court in handcuffs or leg irons or waist shackle. You can't force them to come in in inmate, jumpsuit, prison blues or orange or stripes, whatever the case may be. But I would always keep a jacket and pants and a couple of different sizes in my office. So when a defendant would show up on Monday morning trial calendar and say, oh, yeah, I want to go to trial, but

I don't have a suit. I go, oh, I do have a suit for you. But she was more concerned about what she wore to court every day. She had she actually had a personal dresser, dialest dressing her for court, Wendy. Yeah. You know, Nancy, what you're describing really is something hopefully the judge will take into considering at sentencing, because it's this entire mentality of, I don't want to say just not getting it, that would be too kind. It's a complete underappreciation, or I should say non-appreciation, for the fact that the rest of us work for a living. Her family works for a living. There is so much more to life than clothes and appearances and image. You know, one of the things that distinguishes this case is the fact that this overemphasis on image, on money, on glamour

sounds like it absolutely overrode every ounce of judgment that she had. And to take that into the courtroom, as you mentioned, Nancy, is probably a little bit beyond the pale. Listen to our friends at Inside Edition. This is Diane McInerney. This woman may look like she is dressed for a fashion show and her designer duds, but the wannabe socialite is actually on trial for swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting people. She was so concerned about how she looked in court, she actually hired a stylist. Is she in a courtroom or at a red carpet event? Anna Sorokin is accused of posing as an

heiress to live an extravagant lifestyle, but it's what she's wearing to trial that is making headlines. The 27-year-old defendant showed up wearing a form-fitting black dress with a plunging neckline and choker necklace. It's a look that could backfire, warns stylist Dawn Karen. Black dress, definitely a no-no. It hyper-sexualized her. It makes her appear to be like a seductress. The choker kind of shows to me that she's trying to be overtly sexy. The more sexy she appears to be, it hurts her. Sorokin is so obsessed with her clothes,

she refused to enter the courtroom because the outfit she was given to wear was not up to her standards. The angry judge told her, this is unacceptable and inappropriate. This is not a fashion show. Sorokin's lawyer, Todd Spodek, says accounts of his client delaying the trial because of fashion are being blown out of proportion. It's not that she didn't want to come out only because of the clothes. She's going through a major criminal trial that's publicized every day. It's emotional and it's her life. Don't cry too much for Anna Sorokin. She was

living a life that many people, not me, but many people dream of. She made a show of proving she belonged with the rich and famous decked out and signature Celine glasses, Gucci sandals, high-end buys from Nete Porte, Elise Walker. She usually holed up in a $400 a night room for months on end at Manhattan's very, very luxurious 11 Howard Hotel. Concierge at the hotel said they became friends when she would repeatedly, routinely pass out crisp $100 tips to both them and Uber drivers. When I hear the words crisp $100, how many $100 bills do you have, Jackie? I don't think I have any. So Jeff Cortese, former FBI special agent, when I hear the word crisp $100 bills, that means you just got them out of an ATM or from the bank. So how did she manage

to defraud the bank to get cash to tip concierge to fake for her? Yeah, that's a great question. You know, I think it's a numbers game in many respects. There were multiple banks engaged in her activity. She, it appears based on the information, limited her trips back to the same well. Though she would go back to the same bank on occasion for certain banking activity, she did share the wealth amongst the banks within New York so as not to draw too much attention over an extended period of time.

Well, what I understand that she did, and I'm going to have to get clarity on this, is that she would provide fake bank records to one bank and then they would she was trying to get a massive loan for 22 million so she they wanted a down payment so she faked records and got I don't know 50 to 100 grand from one bank and used that money to get a loan as a down payment on a loan a bigger bigger loan at another bank. None of the banks realizing what the others were doing. Another thing that really fascinates me, Dr. William July, and not in a good way, it's like looking at a tarantula under a glass box. Okay, that sort of fascination is the way she carried on this big, huge imaginary life. She would splash out on shopping sprees at boutiques, very expensive personal training

sessions and beautician appointments. And she would always bring along a friend and pay for them. And they would be all impressed. The social elite, as they call themselves, would go to lavish and large dinners for celebs, artists, CEOs, all in restaurants there in Soho. And if you do look at her online, she's always drinking a big glass of wine at some beautiful location. How can an adult have that type of an imaginary life?

I know when children have an imaginary friend, there's all sorts of psychological reasons for that, maybe just security, but an adult? Certainly people can have these types of imaginary lives and they're going to recruit other people. Just because of the chronological age does not make a person have the maturation that they should have. And then that can be from a lot of different things.

But certainly as much as she can get other people to buy into this, then that's because she's going to continue and she's going to expand that imaginary life. And people can be very charming. They can be very off-putting, excuse me. They can be very charming. They can be very persuasive and they can get other people to buy in. There are people that can go into banks and they can fake a story and they can get people to believe, and they can get other people to buy in. There are people that can go into banks, and they can fake a story, and they can get people to believe it. It happens every day. And this is a person who can do that.

And the imaginary parts of this, I mean, I haven't examined her, so I can't go so far as to say she's delusional or anything like that. But clearly, she has the ability, maybe a pathological type of charm, some people can do that. And also, you have to remember, other people are buying into this because the banks aren't checking credentials properly. Under the name Anna Delvey, she arrived in New York with a high-priced wardrobe and was known for handing out $100 cash tips, reportedly saying at different points that her father was a diplomat, an oil baron, or involved in the solar panel business, none of which are the case. People who knew her said she often asked others to use their credit cards to cover cab and plane fares and then failing to repay them. Our friend Michael Sissak at Time Magazine Online, yeah, there was one story that came out at trial,

how she hired a PR firm to organize her birthday party in Soho. It emerged she never paid the bill. During her stay at 11 Howard, she struck up a friend there in addition to the concierges and asked for the recommendations for the very, very, very best food in Soho. We also learned that on one occasion, she invited friends to dinner at Soho Sant Ambro, and the friend ended up paying a whopper, massive bill, when Sorokin's 12 credit cards were all declined. But Sorokin paid her back triple the amount the following day in cash. We also

learned that she would go to unique treatments like infrared saunas in the East Village, go out to dinner after celebrity training sessions with Casey Duke, which Sorokin also paid for. John Limley, how did she get money from one bank to get a loan from another bank? How'd that work? It's a very interesting line to follow, how she did this. She would go to a bank and ask for a certain line of credit based on a lot of times just a promise of the fact that she had millions overseas that she could repay the loan. And she would go from one bank with that money to another bank and get an even larger. In fact, here's an example. that money to another bank and get an even larger.

In fact, here's an example. She talked to an executive with Citi National Bank into giving her a line of credit on her account for $100,000, promising to repay it with a wire transfer from a European account. She used that money in a failed attempt to secure a $25 million loan from Fortress Investment Group. And one of the managing directors at Fortress has said that she ran into problems providing details about the origin of her wealth. Someone actually thought to ask about that. You know, her lies became more and more spectacular. Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor. In fact, she even managed to charter a private plane on one occasion with absolutely zero money. Wendy, how do you do that? Yeah, the level of sophistication, Nancy, as John was explaining, and as we know now, looking back,

was absolutely stunning. It was almost as if she was daring authorities to catch her in this escalating scheme of sophistication. And the answer to how you do that is the same way we see people committing other crimes is sometimes people are so trusting because image matters. This is something I talk about in my book. We tend to attribute all these positive qualities to somebody who comes across as believable, whether they're pretty or that we like what they say or we're enamored with their accent or their clothes. All the types of things that Anna used to get ahead can fool other people into letting them acquire the kind of wealth and, as you point out, tangible benefits that this young lady did. John Lemley, tell me about the luxe treatment

she got in Morocco, where she ended up stiffing her friend with the bill. Well, when they went to Marrakesh, she went with a friend, and she had offered to pay for everything. Now, her friend actually offered to help pay, but she said, no, no, no, you work hard for your money, harder for your money than I do. This is my treat. And they would go out for a round of drinks. And oops, she forgot her credit card. So she would ask, you know, very quietly if the friend could, you know, just cover this one

check. And that would happen over and over and over again. And this friend, in the end, ended up covering the $62,000 cost of the flights, dining, shopping, and the stay at a hotel where they had a private villa with a courtyard, a pool, and a butler. All the extravagance that you might say was fit for, say, a Kardashian. A $62,000 vacation, that is more than most people make an entire year. While in Marrakesh, Morocco, Sorokin, a.k.a. Delvey, took part in all the activities the hotel had to offer. For instance, they took private tennis lessons. They ate breakfast poolside. A butler would deliver them fresh watermelons and bottles of rosé.

They roamed the gardens, relaxed, swam in the villa's private pool, took a tour of the wine cellar, ate dinner with live Moroccan music before capping off their nights with cocktails at the Churchill Bar. I mean, this is a trip that most people only dream of. And now here's Miss Thing having a nearly $70,000 vacation built on crime. Yeah. You know, Nancy, the best things in life are free and everybody knows that. So when you look at a story like this, part of, I think, the offense that everyone is taking is to use crime and criminal activity to build a fake world where people pay the kind of money that most of us would never do even if we had it. You talk about the value of hard work, the way we were all raised. It sounds like those she surrounded herself were really

taken with the fact that someone they believed was as rich and famous as she was would be interested in them. That is a basic human need, ironically, that was being satisfied through crime and through, as you pointed out earlier, having this imaginary friend that's larger than life. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Known for swindling other people out of money while she posed as a German heiress, the convicted scammer was actually portrayed by actress Julia Garner in a Netflix miniseries. I watched all nine episodes, I believe it was, so I could do an interview about her, Anna Sorkin, aka Anna Delvey. The depths of deception this woman is capable of is amazing. Now, she got mad because Max said she wasn't, well, let's see, how can I put this, poopy dancer?

I gave up cursing when I had the twins, so I can't say what Max said. But so what? So Max said something about her. Maybe he was right. Or maybe Max could smell her lies a mile away, just like that jury. It was all set to be the return of the fake heiress. She was the star of a hit Netflix show all about her life defrauding high society marks, but Anna Delvey somehow managed to claw her way back into the spotlight with a very surprising turn of events, landing somehow on Dancing with the Stars. But every time the viewers watched her before they voted, they had to remember what happened in a court of law. You know, I don't know about you, Jeff Cortese, FBI special agent, but I loved it when I would.

Of course, the prosecutor gets in front of an entire jury panel and reads the indictment before you begin jury selection. So everybody knows who's charged with what and what all the counts are. And I would love it to say State versus Jeff Cortese, aka Charlie Tuna, aka The Hammer, aka blah, blah, blah, and so forth and so on. I would love reading out 10 or 12 aliases. And by the time you're done reading that, the jury just looks at the person and goes, you're so, you're, you're guilty. You're guilty.

Why are you, why do you have 12 aliases? And this girl, I'm telling you, not only had aliases, but she had fake assistants. She lied about her mom and dad, who they really are. The reality is that her father was a truck driver, and he went on to work at or start a heating and air conditioning business. The friends in school called her Barbie, and her favorite movie was Mean Girls. And I don't think that's, any of that is good. Okay. That means nothing good, Jeff Cortese. No, I agree 100%. You hit it on the head. You know, the minute individuals start layering themselves with aliases and AKAs, you know, they're putting up walls and barriers that any jury is going to be able to see through. using multiple techniques and methods to siphon money from them.

You know, from top to bottom, she exploited what people want to see and exploited the type of lifestyle that people want to have to the extent that, you know, if I was going to run an undercover, I would have done many of the techniques that she did in order to manipulate my audience. Well, another aspect to this, John Lumley, is I remember one day when John David came running home and went, so-and-so's mom is so cool. She works for Chick-fil-A. And she gets free T-shirts, and she gets this, and she gets that.

I think the lady, who's's very lovely was in marketing or PR and would bring home, you know, like a t-shirt or a moocow or whatever they had. And I thought briefly of creating a different persona to try to impress John David's friends who were then four years old. Okay. But I just decided, no, I'm just going to stick with the truth, you know, and let the chips fall where they may. But John Lumley, I mean, that would hurt me if I found out the twins were lying about their mom and dad, that what we are isn't good enough to fit in to their self-image they're projecting. That would really hurt my feelers. And that's exactly the way her parents felt about the whole thing. They actually did

help fund her through college and as she was getting out on her own, but there was never any sort of trust fund. She moved to Germany in 2007, and after she dropped out of college, she interned in public relations before then moving to Paris and became an intern at Purple Magazine. Once she arrived in New York City, she just somehow managed to be in all the sort of right places, and she was this German heiress, according to her, with a father that you would think was... Wait a minute. I thought she was supposed to be a Russian heiress. Well, no, she was from Russia, but she told people she was a German heiress. What's really funny, though, is that her German, according to a lot of people, was terrible.

I want you to take a listen to what the defense claims in closing arguments. She had to fake it until she could make it. Those words from the defendant's own attorney, who claims she never intended to commit a crime. But prosecutors call her a fraud and a liar, who would do almost anything to prolong her life of luxury. This morning, the fate of an alleged scam artist is now in the hands of a jury. Both sides wrapping up arguments for a case that's drawn international outrage. The style-savvy

defendant even turning heads in court wearing an animal print dress. She called herself Anna Delvey, a fashionable globetrotter who prosecutors say was pretending to be a high-flying German heiress living a fairytale life of glitz and glam among Manhattan's elite. I urge you to come to the only verdict that is in accord with both the law and the evidence, and that is the defendant is guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Prosecutors say the 28-year-old, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, stole $275,000 from banks, hotels, and friends, all part of an elaborate scheme

to keep up her illusion of grandeur. Prosecutors also allege Sorokin tried securing a $22 million loan to operate a private club, claims her lawyer denies. I do not believe she had the intent to ever commit a crime. Whether she owes people money, that's a fact of life. That's the reality of doing business in New York.

Now facing charges of grand larceny and theft, she could spend up to 15 years in prison if convicted. But officials say even if acquitted, she will be deported to Germany. Sorkin's attorney says she got in over her head, but was just buying time until she could pay everyone back. You're hearing our buddy Witt Johnson at GMA and ABC pay everybody back. I saw no signs of paying everybody back and calling this doing business. That's certainly putting perfume on the pig. Now, you know, there's a problem, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor and author of Red Flags,

when the defense to theft and fraud is fake it till you make it. Okay, I would not say that that's a valid defense in a fraud case. You're admitting you're faking it. It's probably not a good theme for the defense. One, I'm sure they're rethinking right about now. You don't want to, that's kind of playing right into the prosecutor's case. Now, what they probably were trying to do, interestingly, in trial, Nancy, you and I have both seen this, is really kind of painting this vulnerability picture of the defendant to try to

make somebody feel sorry for her, that she was caught up in this false lifestyle, felt she had to pretend she was somebody she wasn't, who can't relate to that. There's a little bit of Anna in all of us. You know, some of the themes we've seen. Wait, wait, wait. I want to isolate what you just said. was some type of a renegade and a rebel, someone who was, you know, making her own path in the world creatively. B.S. Don't tell me there's a little bit of Anna Sorokin in me because that was their defense.

There's a little bit of Anna in all of us. No, because she is a fraud, a thief, and she ripped people off and they're never going to get repaid, Wendy. Right. That's what I'm saying. Well, that's probably why she was convicted, because these defenses are just not realistic to jurors, to hardworking jurors, and just cannot relate to the fact that we are anything like this picture of Anna. Nonetheless, we have seen this defense time and again, and thankfully, it is not successful. Take a listen to this. The courtroom drama played out late into the evening. At one point, the jury appeared deadlocked, the defense asking for a mistrial, but then

the verdict. Jurors agreeing with the prosecution that Anna Sorokin built her fairy tale life on a foundation of theft and lies. Overnight, a New York City jury finding socialite Anna Sorokin, the so-called Soho grifter, guilty on eight counts, including grand larceny, attempted grand larceny, and theft of services. Prosecutors arguing the 28-year-old stole a quarter of a million dollars from banks, hotels, and friends to fund a lavish lifestyle. The jurors obviously believed our point of view and followed our logic and acquitted her of the top charges. I'm saddened

that she was convicted of some of the other charges. Prosecutors say the Russian-born Sorokin, who called herself Anna Delvey, was pretending to be a high-flying German heiress living a life of glamour among Manhattan's elite. Authorities say she even forged financial documents, hoping to get a $22 million loan to open a private club in the Big Apple. While she was turned down, she did convince one bank to loan her $100,000, which she never paid back. Her lawyer saying she meant to, but had gotten in over her head and was just buying time. Anna Delvey, gone for now.

Don't worry, she'll be back. And I wonder, will she ever pay back all that money? We wait as justice unfolds. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.