"Magic Trick": the trial begins for the fake heiress who cheated friends, banks and hotels | American News

Anna Sorokin traveled to celebrity circles and tipped $ 100. All the more reason to believe that she was the German heiress that she claimed to be. But prosecutors explained that behind the lifestyle of the jet set and his expensive sons, was a fraudster who was looking for friends, banks and hotels for a taste of the high life.

Sorokin, 28, lived in luxury hotel rooms in New York that she could not afford, promised a friend a fresh trip to Morocco, and then cashed her bill of 62 $ 000 and peddled false bank statements in search of $ 22 million. ready, the District Attorney's Office in Manhattan claimed.

On Wednesday, the darling young woman from the Big Apple social scene was tried for theft and theft of services, alleging that she had scammed various people and businesses up to $ 275,000 into a 10-month odyssey that took her back. had driven to go to the Midwest and Marrakech. before landing in a cell at Rikers Island.

"His project was to claim to be a wealthy German heiress with about $ 60 million of funds held abroad," said Attorney Catherine McCaw after Sorokin's arrest in October 2017. "She is born in Russia and does not have a penny in his name as far as we can determine. "

When she was arrested, the story of Sorokin caused a sensation in the media, resulting in long profiles in New York Magazine and Vanity Fair. Shonda Rhimes, the force behind Gray's Anatomy and Scandal, even announced that she was creating a television series on Sorokin, whose biography on Instagram said "soon on Netflix".

The Sorokin lawyer said she had never intended to commit a crime.

Attorney Todd Spodek told the jury in an opening statement that Sorokin operated a system that was "easily seduced by glamor and glitz" after seeing how the appearance of wealth opened doors. Spodek said that she just bought time to start a business and repay her debts.

"Anna had to simulate until she could do it," Spodek said.

Sorokin, imprisoned since his arrest, risks being deported to Germany, regardless of the outcome of the trial, as the authorities claim that she has exceeded her visa.

Sorokin arrived in the world of champagne dreams and caviar dreams in 2016 with a new name (Anna Delvey) and a custom-made wardrobe (Celine sunglbades, Gucci sandals and Net-a high-end purchases). -Porter and Elyse Walker). She proved her affiliation by pbading neat Benjamins to Uber drivers and hotel concierges, but she explained the source of her wealth, according to the people who knew her.

At different times, they said, she would say that her father was a diplomat, an oil baron or a solar panel. In reality, his father told New York magazine he is a former trucker who runs a heating and air conditioning business.

At first, people around Sorokin did not see a red flag when she asked them to put taxis and airline tickets on their credit cards. She sometimes said she was struggling to move her holdings from Europe, they said, and they laughed about it as an oversight when they had to sue her to pay them back.

"It was a magic trick," wrote in Vanity Fair Rachel Williams, the friend of the trip to Morocco. "I'm embarrbaded to say that I was one of the props, as well as the public. Anna's was a beautiful New York dream, like one of those nights that never seems to end. And then the bill arrives.

Prosecutors said that, buying publicity at the party in New York, she planned to spend tens of millions of dollars to build a private arts club with exhibitions, facilities and ephemeral shops. She thought of calling it the Anna Delvey Foundation.

Sorokin pursued the ruse of the heiress while she was looking for a loan of $ 22 million for the club in November 2016, prosecutors said. She claimed that the loan would be secured by a UBS letter of credit in Switzerland and that she submitted statements purporting to justify her badets, according to an overview of the charges.

One bank rejected Sorokin because she "did not have enough cash to repay her loans," prosecutors said. She bailed out another company when she was forced to meet with a UBS banker who could check her holdings, prosecutors said. At the same time, said Spodek, one of the company's leaders sent challenging messages to Sorokin, telling her that she was "beautiful internally and externally," that he "forced himself not to kiss you" and that he asked to go up to his hotel room.

Prosecutors said that while seeking the loan, Sorokin had convinced a bank to lend him $ 100,000 to cover the costs of due diligence. She ended up keeping $ 55,000 and "wasted those funds on personal expenses in about a month," prosecutors said. A few months later, in May 2017, Sorokin would have chartered a plane for the Berkshire Hathaway shareholders meeting in Omaha, Nebraska, without ever paying the $ 35,400 bill.

Bankrupt and facing a big bill in a downtown Manhattan hotel in July 2017, Sorokin pleaded with a police officer to announce the bailout, prosecutors said.

"I do not have any money or credit cards. I'm waiting for my aunt from Germany. She will pay, "said Sorokin, according to court documents. "I'm not trying to run. Why do you make a big deal about this? Give me five minutes and I can charge a friend.