Beneath home arrest, pretend heiress launches podcast to rehab public picture
NEW YORK — It’s a weekday morning and Anna Sorokin is on home arrest in a New York house constructing that has been condemned as imminently perilous to life. So she’s trying to seize outdoors consideration and relieving her boredom in essentially the most quotidian means: beginning a podcast.
“So many individuals grew to become well-known for dangerous issues and had been in a position to type of segue it into one thing totally different,” she lately instructed The Related Press in her East Village house.
“The primary theme of my podcast is productive rule-breaking,” she mentioned of “The Anna Delvey Present.”
For now, she needs to reimagine her public picture to shake her fame of being a con artist and a scammer.
“I’m on 24/7 home arrest. I’m solely allowed to depart for my parole check-ins, my ICE check-ins and for medical emergencies,” she mentioned. Behind her is a life-size cutout of her likeness — created by artist Kenny Schachter — which, like Sorokin herself, is sporting an ankle monitoring gadget.
Going by the identify Anna Delvey, she posed as a German heiress and lied about having a $67 million belief fund so as to apply for loans, run up money owed and safe a historic constructing for a personal arts membership. She falsely claimed to be the daughter of a diplomat or an oil baron. Arrested in late 2017, she was convicted in 2019 on a number of counts of larceny and theft for bilking banks, motels and rich New Yorkers out of $275,000.
She was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in jail. After serving three years in jail although — about half of which was at Rikers Island jail advanced — Sorokin, a German citizen, was detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Later, she was launched after posting a $10,000 bond within the fall to residence confinement, pending a deportation listening to.
Now she’s making the most of her time at residence by launching a weekly podcast collection that she hopes will inform her facet of the story, that includes numerous skilled and movie star friends. Sorokin’s conversations with Emily Ratajkowski, Julia Fox, “Pharma Bro” Martin Shkreli and Ottessa Moshfegh will probably be on upcoming episodes, based on Reunion Audio, the podcast firm.
Sorokin’s fraud case grew to become the idea for the Emmy-nominated Netflix collection “Inventing Anna,” based mostly on a New York journal story. Sorokin, performed by three-time Emmy winner Julia Garner, mentioned she was a guide on the present, however didn’t have “any management” over the ultimate product.
“For me to say I’m rehabilitated could be to confess one thing was flawed with me to start with. Like, I used to be simply younger. I made some errors,” she mentioned. “I’m attempting to be taught from them. My case, my prison case is on direct enchantment.”
“Inventing Anna” was impressed by real-life occasions, however each episode included a disclaimer that the story was true apart from the components that had been made up.
“I do know a number of the stuff like undoubtedly didn’t occur,” Sorokin mentioned. “Nevertheless it’s probably not as much as me to take a seat right here and go over the collection piece-by-piece, as a result of it’s actually a Shonda Rhimes interpretation.”
Whereas Sorokin was jailed, her fanbase grew — even organizing a “Free Anna Delvey” artwork present that included a few of her drawings, in addition to works by different artists. Since then, she has tried to promote pencil drawings for as much as $25,000.
The podcast offers her the chance to take again some management over the narrative, and it’s one thing she’s thought of doing for a while.
“I wished to start out recording in jail, truly over the jail cellphone as a result of, you realize, there are some rappers who document complete albums whereas being incarcerated. I used to be like, ‘Why not document a podcast?’” Sorokin mentioned.
She was by no means in a position to do it, as a result of it was “logistically troublesome” to document episodes, based on the podcast firm.
So far as her time behind bars, Sorokin known as jail a “transformative expertise,” saying that she’s not the one who was arrested in 2017.
“It’s been 5 years, a bit greater than 5 years since I obtained arrested. So, I similar to — I modified. I discovered a lot,” she mentioned. Wearing a white shirt, her signature black-ribbon tie and darkish slacks, her ankle bracelet is clearly seen.
She lifts her pants leg to point out it off and even explains the way it works.
“Typically you see the banks all function the largest fraud on an enormous scale, however like if you happen to bounce, I don’t know, a $500 examine, then (it’s) fraud,” Sorokin mentioned.
This week, Sorokin’s visitor on “The Anna Delvey Present” was mannequin and rocker Julia Cumming of the New York Metropolis band, Sunflower Bean.
Throughout a dialogue about what makes an actual New Yorker, Cumming says Sorokin’s influence within the metropolis qualifies her.
“You’re the first individual I’ve ever frolicked with below home arrest,” she mentioned. “In order that’s an enormous accomplishment.”
Sorokin agreed that she didn’t know anybody below home arrest both.
Cumming responded: “It’s such as you and Lindsay Lohan,” who was below home arrest in Los Angeles greater than a decade in the past.
Sorokin believes her notoriety makes it’s straightforward for her to convey friends on the present.
“I can get just about anyone up right here,” she mentioned with brash confidence.
However there’s one visitor she gained’t be capable to get: Theranos founder Elizabeth Holmes, who simply started an 11-year jail sentence for overseeing a blood-testing hoax that grew to become a parable about greed and hubris in Silicon Valley.
“I’d love to talk to Elizabeth. I undoubtedly assume she’s an attention-grabbing individual,” Sorokin mentioned. “I can relate a bit of bit extra is as a result of we’re each females and have been attempting to construct one thing.”
She would additionally think about having U.S. Rep. George Santos on the podcast, however doesn’t really feel she has a lot in widespread with him. The New York Republican who fabricated an id as a wealthy, Wall Road dealmaker whereas operating for Congress, and was lately charged in a 13-count indictment that included fraud, cash laundering, and theft of public funds.
“I’m certain a few of it’s true, a few of it — it’s not,” Sorokin mentioned of issues written about Santos.
She added: “I get so many requests to offer George Santos recommendation, jail recommendation or one thing. I type of stayed away from that.”
So, for now, the topic of the “Inventing Anna” collection waits to search out out if individuals tune into the podcast, accessible this week on all main platforms — and if her marketing campaign to reinvent herself works.
Story by John Carucci
