The court sentenced the Russian woman posing as a millionaire in New York

The 9 trial in Manhattan sentenced Anna Sorokina, who pretended to be a rich German heiress with a fortune of 60 million euros, to 12 years in prison. with the right to review the sentence through 4 year.

In late April she was found guilty in fraud in hotels, restaurants, banks and a company providing private air transportation services, worth more than 200 000 dollars, writes The Guardian. According to prosecutors, she committed these crimes during the 10 months, that is, from November 2016 to August 2017.

Judge Diane Kiesel stated that "she was stunned by the depth of the deception of the accused, and the labyrinths of lies."

"She was dazzled by the glitz and glamor of New York," the judge said.

28-year-old Sorokina wanted to become a collector and planned to open a club of art lovers with a closed membership. But in the end, after the discovery of her deception of the representatives of the higher social strata of New York, the woman became known as the "swindler from Soho."

During the trial, the court issued a warning to her because of the hysterics that she rolled up due to the lack of access to her expensive outfits, and also drew insulting sketches on the chief prosecutor during her testimony.

But during the sentencing she was quiet. Wearing a long-sleeved black dress, she told the judge: "I apologize for the mistakes I made."

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The story of Sorokina became a sensation in the media. During the trial, prosecutors stated that she had withdrawn more money from her bank account than there was, by falsifying financial documents, as part of her frauds, which she committed under the name of Anna Delvi. The jury agreed with the accusation that she fraudulently placed herself in “the best position to get money,” posing as a person from the social environment of wealthy collectors, dealers and auctioneers.

According to prosecutors, Sorokina’s ambition was to “live the fantasy of an extravagant way of life beyond its capabilities.” But her lawyers argued that Sorokina was hardly a unique person if she believed that surface glamor was the key to recognition in the circles she wanted to join.

Her attorney Todd Spodek admitted that his client’s actions were unethical, but, according to him, were not illegal because she planned to pay all debts.

The jury dismissed some of the accusations against Sorokina, including an attempt to fraudulently get a loan of 22 million dollars, as well as an accusation that she extorted 60 000 dollars from a friend who paid for a luxury trip to Morocco.

The prosecutors told the court that now Sorokina’s accounts “hardly even have one cent.”

The US Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) said it would try to deport Sorokin to Germany, from where she came to the United States, after her release from custody, because she had delayed a US visa in 2017.

Sorokina was born in 1991, Russia, but in 2007, her parents took her with her younger brother to Germany. Four years later, Anna graduated from high school in the provincial town of Eschweiler, 60 km from Cologne. Classmates recall that German was given to her with difficulty. Delvi and now speaks it does not matter, but in English speaks with an uncertain European accent, which you often hear in the light of Manhattan.

She arrived in New York in 2016 year and smoothly fit into a glamorous party, where she successfully pretended to be the daughter of a German oil magnate, a diplomat or just a rich man. In fact, her father, according to media reports, initially worked in Germany as a truck driver, and then started a small heating and cooling equipment maintenance company.

Delvi serenely parted with the hundred-dollar bills and paid them a tip to the drivers of "Uber", maids and doormen who fought for the right to take her suitcases to the room. ForumDaily previously wrote about luxurious lifestyle, which led Anna Sorokina in New York.

She settled in Soho at the new boutique hotel 11 Howard and lived there for several months, dressed in expensive shops, dined in trendy restaurants, flew to Tennessee on a chartered plane and drove friends in Morocco, where she rented a villa for 7 thousands of dollars a day.

When Marrakech refused to accept her debit card, Delvi persuaded her companion, photo editor of Vanity Fair magazine Rachel Williams, to pay for the trip, which cost 62 thousands of dollars. This amount exceeded the annual salary of Williams, who later described in Vanity Fair his attempts to get back the money spent. Ultimately, Delvi returned just 5 thousands to her.

Delvi attended exclusive events and knew a lot of their regulars. Even fleeting acquaintances with influential people could be very useful. For example, a startup Blade, through which the rich and famous chartered charter flights, allowed Delvi to fly to Omaha, Nebraska, without prepayment.

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As Blade accountant Kathleen McCormick showed during the trial, the company took such a risk because its head, Rob Wiesentol, crossed paths with Delvi in ​​the light and vouched for her. She flew to Omaha for the annual meeting of shareholders of the conglomerate Berkshire Hathaway, headed by the legendary investor Warren Buffett.

A round-trip flight cost 35 390 dollars. McCormick has shown that the company sometimes allows customers to fly into debt, and in the past they all paid off with it neatly. When Delvi didn’t do this a month later, McCormick corresponded with her.

At first she replied that the money had already been sent. Then excuses followed, for example, that Google closed access to its account.

Delvi returned from Omaha to New York City 9 May 2017. By August, the company's patience ran out, and she told the prosecutor's office.

Lawyer Delvi Todd Spodek put the blame on the injured company and reproached her for not demanding money in advance.

Blade repeatedly tried to get money from his client, but Spodek argued to the jury that the company essentially "gave her a free flight," because Delvi seemed to be a wealthy and influential social lion.

“They thought she was a German heiress,” Spodek said. “They thought she was a trendsetter who would praise them on Instagram.” So they gave her a plane. ”

Since November 2016, Delvi has been working on realizing her crystal dream - creating a private art club, which was to be called ADF (“Anna Delvi Foundation”) and located in a six-story historic building at the corner of Park Avenue and 22 st. The club was supposed to include a bar, restaurant and art gallery.

To finance the project, Delvi tried to borrow 22 million dollars from banks. Since the young woman, who, strictly speaking, did not have a penny to herself, would not have been given so much in life, according to prosecutors, she resorted to lying and forged documents, having previously studied the falsification method on the Internet. She still did not give anything, and the ambitious art project remained unfulfilled.

November 21 2016, she attempted to borrow the desired 22 million dollars from City National Bank, located in the center of Manhattan.

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She introduced herself as a German heiress and presented to the bank employee forged documents of other banks certifying that 60 million euros were in total in her accounts abroad.

This was not enough, and a few weeks later the bank refused. Delvi, as if nothing had happened, presented the same documents to Dennis Onabanjo, representative of the company Fortress Investment Group, who was responsible for checking the creditworthiness of the borrowers.

She was told that they would consider her application on the condition that Delvi would first deposit thousands of dollars in 100 for attorneys' fees and checks.

12 January 2017, a woman persuaded the City National Bank to give her a loan for this amount. For this, she convinced a bank employee to allow her to overdraft her account. In February, Fortress spent 45 thousands of this amount on attempts to check Delvi's creditworthiness, after which the woman canceled her application, but did not return the remaining 55 thousands to the City National Bank.

She spent the money on classes with a personal trainer, covering 30-thousandth debt to the 11 Howard hotel and shopping at expensive stores.

According to the prosecution, between 7 and 11 in April 2017, Delvi placed checks for 160 thousand dollars into Citibank’s account. Before the bank discovered that they were uncovered, she took down 70 thousands.

Netflix has acquired the rights to film an extensive article on the New York odyssey Delvi, written by Jessica Pressler and published in the journal New York. Delvi has sold this company the rights to her life story. The amount of the transaction is not disclosed. In any case, the Delvi fee is likely to go to cover losses incurred by victims, among which are two hotels and a restaurant from which she left without paying.

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