Anna Delvey Sorokin Timeline 1991

Anna Delvey was born Anna Sorokin to Vadim Sorokin and his wife in Domodedovo, Russia. Her father was a truck driver and her mother ran a convenience shop.

The Sorokin family moved to Germany. Anna found the move difficult because she struggled to learn German.

Sorokin attended the Bischöfliche Liebfrauenschule Eschweiler School. She had a hard time at school due to the language. She did not have any friends and spent her free time reading Vogue magazine and following fashion blogs on the internet.

Having left school in Germany, Sorokin moved to London where she began a course at Central Saint Martins Art School.

Anna did not enjoy the art course she was studying so she left England and returned to Germany.

Anna secured an intern post at a public relations company in Berlin.

Sorokin began working as an intern for Purple fashion magazine in Paris. She began using the name Anna Delvey.

Anna Delvey was sent to New York to attend New York Fashion Week. She liked the city and was allowed to transfer to the Purple office in New York.

Anna told people that she was a wealthy German heiress with a large inheritance tied up in a trust fund in Germany.

Anna Delvey left Purple and began seeking funding for the Anna Delvey Foundatiion – an exclusive private club and art foundation. She drew up detailed plans for her foundation which she wanted housed in the Church Missions House on Park Avenue, Manhattan, New York.

Delvey continued in her mission to raise funds for her foundation. She attended and hosted numerous parties and managed to get others to pay the bill by claiming that she had forgotten her purse, or that her cards were not working, or that payments from her trust fund had been delayed.

Anna accompanied Michael Huang to the Venice Biennale, an art exhibition held bi-annually in Venice. She promised to pay back the cost of the trip and accommodation, around $3000, but never did.

Anna Delvey attended Art Basel in Miami, an annual art fair in Miami, Basel, Switzerland and Hong Kong.

Delvey booked a birthday celebration at Sadelle’s Restaurant, Broadway, New York but her card was declined. The restaurant asked Huang for Delvey’s contact details. Huang became suspicious and cut contact with Anna.

Anna became friends with Rachel DeLoache Williams.

Delvey created fake bank statements and other documents to prove she had €60 million in her trust fund. She used these to apply for a $22 million loan for the Anna Delvey Foundation from City National Bank.

Delvey also approached Fortress Investment Group for a loan using the same forged documents. They agreed to consider her application upon payment of $100,000 for legal expenses.

City National Bank refused Anna’s application for a loan.

Anna Delvey managed to persuade City National Bank to grant her a temporary overdraft of $100,000. To secure the overdraft, Anna provided details of her business manager ‘Peter Hennecke’. However, Hennecke did not exist, he was fabricated by Delvey. She then gave the $100,000 to Fortress Investment Group to process her application.

Anna withdrew her loan application with Fortress Investment after they insisted on meeting her Swiss bankers. $55,000 of the $100,000 paid to Fortress was returned to her.

Anna Delvey took a room at the 11 Howard hotel in Soho, Manhattan. She frequently gave $100 tips to the concierge, Neffatari (Neff) Davis, and they became friends.

Delvey treated Neff Davis to sessions with personal trainer, Kacy Duke.

Delvey had run up a $30,000 bill at 11 Howard by the time they realised they did not have a credit card on file. She had no money and began claiming that she had forgotten her cards or that they were not working for some reason. Friends picked up the tabs.

Delvey paid $160,000 worth of fraudulent checks into Citibank. She managed to gain $70,000 in cash from the deposits and paid her bill at 11 Howard.

Anna Delvey booked a charter flight through the Blade App to Nebraska using a forged wire transfer for $35,390. She planned to attend the Berkshire Hathaway AGM and meet Warren Buffett. The forgery was not realised until after she had travelled.

While Anna was in Nebraska, the 11 Howard Hotel placed her belongings in storage because she had failed to place a credit card on file.

With the help of Rachel Williams, Anna managed to move from 11 Howard to The Mercer Hotel.

Anna Delvey invited Rachel Williams and Kacy Duke on an all expenses paid break to Morocco. They stayed at the La Mamounia hotel in Marrakesh at a cost of $7,000 per night. Duke left early after getting food poisoning but the others stayed on. When the credit card she had given the hotel failed, Delvey persuaded Rachel Williams to pay on her personal and work credit cards. She promised to repay Williams, who went back to America, later.

On her return to New York, Anna took a room at the Beekman Hotel.

Delvey had hired London designer, Marc Kremers to do the branding for the Anna Delvey Foundation. Anna had promised that his £16,800 bill would be settled by June 2016. Kremers now began to hassle Delvey for the money. She explained the lack of payment by saying that Peter Hennecke, her fake advisor, had died.

The Beekman Hotel realised that they did not have a valid credit card on file. As Anna’s bill was $11,518 they refused to allow her entry without payment.

Anna Delvey moved to W Hotel and tried her usual trick but the card was discovered to be non-functional after a few days.

Blade CEO Robert Wiesenthal reported Delvey to the police for non-payment of the charter flight after all attempts to get payment failed.

Unable to pay her outstanding hotel bills, Anna Delvey had nowhere to stay and found herself homeless with no possessions.

Both the Beekman and the W Hotel reported Anna to the police for theft of their services and she was arrested.

Anna Delvey hired Todd Spodek as her defence lawyer.

Blade CEO Robert Wiesenthal reported Delvey to the police for non-payment of the charter flight after all attempts to get payment failed.

Anna Delvey deposited two forged cheques into a Signature Bank account and managed to withdraw $8,200 in cash. She flew to California and checked into the Passages Malibu rehabilitation treatment facility.

Anna Delvey was arrested by the Los Angeles Police Department. Rachel Williams was complicit in the arrest by phoning Anna on the pretext of inviting her for lunch.

Anna Sorokin was charged in Manhattan with two counts of grand larceny in the first degree, three counts in the second degree and one in the third degree. She was also charged with theft of services for the fraudulent loan applications, the forged cheque deposits and the Marrakesh trip charge paid for by Rachel Williams. She was remanded in custody pending trial.

Journalist Jessica Pressler published an artical in the New York Magazine entitled ‘Maybe She Had So Much Mondy She Just Lost Track of It’.

Anna Sorokin had been offered a deal whereby if she pleaded guilty on all charges her prison sentence would be reduced to between 3 – 9 years from the possible 4 – 12 years.

Netflix paid Sorokin $320,000 for the rights to her story.

The trial of Anna Sorokin began. The Judge for the case was Diane Kiesel. Sorokin insisted that her attorney, Todd Spodek, hire a stylist to select her wardrobe for the trial. The trial lasted for a month.

After two days of discussion, the jury found Anna Sorokin guilty on 8 charges. She was found not guilty for the charge of fraud relating to her original loan application with City National and also the charge made against her by Rachel Williams.

Sorokin was sentenced to 4 – 12 years imprisonment. She was fined $24,000 and ordered to pay $100,000 to City National, $70,000 to Citibank and around $30,000 to Blade. She also had legal fees of $75,000 to pay. She made the payments out of the money she received from Netflix.

Rachel DeLoache Williams published ‘My Friend Anna’.

Anna Delvey Sorokin was released on parole. She checked into the NoMad hotel.

Anna was arrested by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement on a charge of overstaying her visa. She was sent to a jail in New Jersey pending deportment to Germany. Sorokin appealed the decision.

The Netflix series ‘Inventing Anna’ by Shonda Rhimes, released globally.

Anna Delvey Sorokin remains in prison in New Jersey pending the appeal on her deportation to Germany.