'Inventing Anna': Who is Anna Delvey? All about fake German heiress and her scams

There have been adaptations on the lives of people who have created an impact in society or done good work for their nation or excelled in fields of sports and entertainment. However, films or series are never just about the heroes, as many a time, the lives of criminals have also been adapted for series and films in the past. One such adaptation has been of Anna Sorokin, who defrauded people in the USA by impersonating herself as a German heiress. 

As per prosecutors, the woman fleeced wealthy persons, banks, hotels and the elite of Manhattan and more of $2,02,00 during the period from 2013 to 2017. As a series about her life, Inventing Anna hits Netflix, here's all you need to know about Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey:

Who is Anna Delvey aka Anna Sorokin on whom Inventing Anna is based?

Anna Sorokin was a woman of Russian-German origin. She was born in Russia and it was during her teenage days that her family shifted to Germany, then to Paris, before she finally arrived in the USA.

She took on the name 'Anna Delvey' during her stay in the United States of America. As per a report on Sky News, she is in her early 30s at the moment.

Anna used to claim that her father was an oil baron or a diplomat, though, in reality, he was a heating and cooling industry businessman, who previously drove a truck. Anna claimed she was the heiress of over £50 million.

Right from taking the help of a stylist to make her look convincing as an elite, an Instagram account that would share details about her outfits to making hotel staff believe she was wealthy with hefty tips, she used different tricks to set up her plans.

She earned popularity as a socialite in the elite parties of the city, where she would trick the affluent by promising them money, which would never reach them eventually. She also approach the banks, and once managed to obtain a loan of  £74,000, a part of which she used to settle her bills at a luxury hotel. Depositing bad checks, withdrawing money from the banks before the cheques bounced were some of the other practices she indulged in to cheat people.   

Anna Sorokin arrested 

She was convicted for her offences in 2019 on multiple counts of attempted grand larceny, larceny in the second degree, and theft of services.

She was sentenced to 4-12 years in prison after being arrested in 2017. She was also asked to pay  £150,000 in restitution and a £17,000 fine. Citing good behaviour, she was released from prison in February 2021. However, the immigration officers then detained her some months later.  At present, she is waiting for her deportation to Russia.

Inventing Anna was released on Friday and is available for streaming on Netflix.

Image: AP