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00:00Hello Curious and welcome back.
00:02It seems that right now is the season for productions about people who have conned others
00:06out of thousands if not millions of dollars in one way or another.
00:10And now the time has come for Anna Delvey, also known as Anna Sorokin.
00:14The Russian native has made headlines worldwide after pretending to be a German heiress and
00:19a trust fund kid and running up debts in the thousands, not only to banks and hotels but
00:23also to her friends.
00:25And now her story has been shown in a brand new Netflix series, Inventing Anna.
00:29But just how does the show differ from the real life story?
00:32How did she manage to scam people?
00:35What happened to Sorokin after her sentence?
00:37And has she been deported back to Germany?
00:40Make sure to stay until the very end to learn all about this story but before we continue
00:44don't forget to hit the bell and subscription button so you don't miss any of our future
00:48videos.
00:49Most recently everyone has been talking about the brand new documentary that dropped Netflix
00:54on February 2nd and which told the story of women that were scammed out of thousands of
00:59dollars by a man referred to as the Tinder Swindler.
01:02If you would like to know more about this scam then be sure to check out our previous video,
01:06but for now stay with us until the end to learn another real story of another who had scammed
01:11people out of cash.
01:13On February 11th Netflix had released a brand new series titled Inventing Anna which has
01:18been created by Shonda Rhimes.
01:20The woman behind such productions is Grey's Anatomy and Scandal.
01:24Nearly right away it became the number one streamed show on Netflix reaching the top position
01:28in many countries.
01:30In a similar theme of conning people out of money it tells the story of a woman who claimed
01:34to have been a German trust fund kid and heiress who lied about her identity and racked
01:39up debts estimated to be under hundred thousands.
01:42The show begins with a disclaimer that reads,
01:44While for some this caused confusion as to what really happened and what did not, some
01:54pointed out that this was supposed to reflect on the things that Anna told people.
01:58But which part had actually happened and where is the woman now?
02:01Stay with us until the end to find out, though do beware, spoilers ahead.
02:05Those who are familiar with Anna Delvey will know that the story might not be as simple,
02:09but for those who are hearing about it for the first time, let's get to know the protagonist
02:13of today's video.
02:14It was 2018 when a New York Magazine story written by journalist Jessica Pressler broke
02:19out on the internet and later spread around the entire world.
02:22It spoke of an alleged German heiress who was accused of stealing hundreds of thousands
02:26of dollars from banks, different financial institutions and her friends.
02:31She did all that between the years 2013 and 2017, and a socialite who documented her
02:36life on Instagram had hopes of launching a members-only club called the Anna Delvey Foundation.
02:41However, as it turned out, they were all deceived.
02:43The woman in question was born in Russia.
02:45At age 16, Sorokin moved to Germany with her family.
02:49After she was finished of school for some time, she lived in London and Paris before moving
02:53to New York and becoming Anna Delvey in 2013.
02:56During her time there, she told people that her father was a diplomat or an oil baron and
03:01that she was the heir to his fortune.
03:02Though in reality, the real-life Mr. Sorokin is a former trucker who, according to Pressler,
03:08now runs a heating and cooling business.
03:10According to interviews that Anna did later on, she is not close to her parents anymore
03:14as they had decided to not travel for her trial, and because of that she called them
03:18conservative.
03:19As for her move to the Big Apple, it was there that the scam queen had managed to fool the
03:23super-rich and powerful elite of New York out of more than $275,000.
03:29In a nine-episode Netflix series, Anna is played by Julia Garner, who viewers might recognize
03:34from such productions as The Assistant and Ozark.
03:37The story was inspired by Pressler's reporting on the case of The Socialite, and the journalist
03:41even worked as an executive producer on the show and is set to release a book about it
03:46titled Bad Influence, which has a planned release in June 2022.
03:50But just how does the story differ from real life?
03:52Some of the details are magnified to make for a better story, and the choice is fit to exaggerated
03:57lifestyle and the crimes.
03:59One of the embellished stories revolved around the journalist, Pressler, whose loosely based
04:03show persona is Vivian Kent.
04:05The series paints her as a disgraced journalist, and although she had in fact reported a story
04:09in 2014, she wasn't as discredited as the show paints her to be.
04:13Though just like in real life, Kent pieces together Anna's story through the testimony
04:17of her friends, ex-boyfriend and acquaintances.
04:20With the journalist, who on the show is played by Anna Chlomsky, is concerned, her on-screen
04:25portrayal was similar to the real-life story.
04:27She too was pregnant while working on the article and wanted to redeem herself after
04:31the aforementioned mistake.
04:33As Jessica said in an interview at the time, she was enormously pregnant and finished the
04:37story weeks away from having a baby, so she might not have been on such a time crunch
04:41as her on-screen counterpart.
04:43Though it is worth pointing out that later, after the article was released and she had
04:47her child, she still attended the trial and even flew to Germany to meet with Anna's
04:51parents.
04:52She stated in an interview that some situations upon which her character questioned people
04:56about Anna were different than depicted, such as having taken place after the article
05:00came out rather than prior.
05:02When speaking about Sorokin and how she feels about her, Jessica doesn't even know herself,
05:07which is also a reason she wrote her book.
05:09She often asks herself, is she evil or is society evil?
05:12And that is something that she cannot answer.
05:15As Presley views this, she was kind of allowed to become the person she did because of the
05:19way the world we live in is, and that is something that is fascinating and she wants to explore
05:23further.
05:24As for Sorokin, besides swindling her friends as depicted, she also scammed hotels, hopping
05:29around different expensive ones in the city and leaving the bills unpaid.
05:33Hotel staffers would find that her credit cards didn't work and why a transfers she promised
05:37didn't come through or that the proof of them was forged.
05:40She would often give staff big tips, even for simple tasks, to make it seem like she
05:44had money to spare and that payment would come just as promised.
05:48But just how did she manage to make such wealthy friends?
05:50Some had commented that she was just easy going and managed to connect with people without
05:54a problem.
05:55Once she had integrated herself in with the art crowd, with her first friend being an art
06:00collector Michael Sufu Huang, it had opened her door into the society, especially after
06:05travelling to Venice Biennale Art Festival at his expense.
06:08Her idea for the members-only club also appealed to many, as it was supposed to have been for
06:12the most elite, including gallery space, complete with high-end restaurants and hotel rooms.
06:18So much that hedge funds and banks had brought the idea, as according to reports did many
06:22of those who are in the elite circles.
06:24In order to do that, she needed to secure a loan.
06:27To do this, she created her elaborate backstory in hopes that banks would give her the money,
06:31without asking too many questions.
06:33However, to be on a safe side, those people wanted to speak with someone managing her
06:37alleged 60 million trust fund.
06:39And while on the show, she is helped by Alan Reid, a fictional financial lawyer that wasn't
06:43the case in real life.
06:44But one name that existed, in the real case, was Peter Henke, who allegedly managed the
06:49Delvey family's finances.
06:51As shown in the production, Anna went to elaborate lengths to obtain the cash, creating fake email
06:56accounts in the name of Henke photoshopping bank statements and using voice disguising
07:00apps and a burner European SIM card to pretend to be Peter on the phone.
07:04This had paid off and the woman was able to secure a loan from a bank.
07:07In real life, there was also another fake identity used, a woman whose name was Bettina Wagner,
07:13who was an alleged family accountant.
07:15In the trial, this evidence was used against Sorokin to prove that these fake identities
07:19proved she had criminal intent.
07:21One of the things that the show features that was not the case in real life was her turbulent
07:25relationship with her boyfriend, Chase Sikorsky, who on the show is a hustler just like Anna.
07:30He is described as a tech bro looking to source money from his app, as well as being Sorokin's
07:35cash cow, being part of an explanation as to how she was able to fund her lavish lifestyle.
07:40While we do not know who the character is based on, internet sleuths had their suggestions,
07:44such as an Australian marketing exec who worked for AOL, David Shing.
07:48Others put forward were futurist Ray Kurzweil and Korean-American futurist Hunter Lee Soik.
07:53In an interview with Insider, when speaking about the show, the real life Anna had said
07:58that the plotlines about her overstaying her welcome on a yacht and racking up hundreds
08:02of thousands of dollars in Bergdorf-Goodman purchases on another person's credit card
08:06doesn't ring a bell.
08:07When speaking of her love life, Sorokin said that she did have a boyfriend she travelled
08:11extensively with in 2016, but she came up with the idea for the Anna Delvey Foundation after
08:16splitting up with him, not while they were together, as the show depicts.
08:20Her downfall started in 2017 when two hotels had pressed charges against Sorokin for theft
08:25of services and it was at that time that she was also being investigated by the Manhattan
08:30District Attorney's Office for bank fraud.
08:32A grand jury was convened in August that year to consider the charges against a Russian native.
08:37A few months later in November, she was arrested by an NYPD officer working for the attorney's office.
08:42As for the show, the last three episodes centred entirely on Anna's trial, which in reality lasted
08:47over a month.
08:48On April 25th, 2019, after deliberating for two days, a jury found Sorokin guilty of eight charges
08:54including grand larceny in the second degree, attempted grand larceny and theft of services.
09:00A month later, she was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in state prison on top of being fined $24,000
09:06in order to pay restitution of about $199,000. However, what has happened to the woman since
09:13then? Is she still in prison? Well, yes, but not where she originally was serving her sentence.
09:18Sorokin was released on parole in February 2021 after serving three years of her sentence due to
09:23good behavior. As for her debts, she used a portion of the $320,000 she received from Netflix for the
09:30rights to her life story to pay them off. It was reported that this was the only payment she has and
09:35will receive from the streaming platform for the story. Once being out, she continued posting
09:40glam shots of her post-prison life on Instagram, on which she still goes by Anna Delvey, and where
09:45the press from her story allowed her to amass over 228,000 followers. She has since given countless
09:51interviews and made a few bold statements about her experience in prison. On Good Morning America,
09:56she claimed her time at Rikers was therapeutic. In March 2021, it was revealed that Anna was arrested
10:01by immigration authorities for overstaying her visa. Sorokin was scheduled to be deported back
10:06to Germany in March last year, but according to media reports, she remains in custody in the USA
10:11due to the fact that through her lawyer, she had filed an application to be granted asylum on the
10:15basis of fear of returning to Germany. Despite her lawyer's many attempts to get her released on
10:21bond while she awaits the final decision on her appeal after her application was denied, Sorokin remains
10:26in custody in Orange County Correctional Facility in upstate New York. As of the making of this video,
10:31it is unknown when she will be released or deported. Though despite it being proven that the woman was
10:36a liar, many internet users are still in support of Sorokin, as to them it was impressive that she had
10:42managed to scam so many people, especially when it came to banks rather than her friends, to the
10:47point that she received several comments of praise on her Instagram account. So curious, what are your
10:51thoughts on a Netflix series? Have you heard about Ana del Vey Sorokin before? Do you agree with her
10:57action? Was her sentence just? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below and as always,
11:01don't forget to like, share and subscribe to our channel. Until next time!
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