Anna Delvey/Sorkin the heiress/scammer who was the subject of the hit Netflix series Inventing Anna, is currently in an ICE detention center in upstate New York, where she is reflecting on her scamming ways, which included swindling various New York elite out of nearly $275,000 between 2016 and 2017 by posing as someone she’s not. As it turns out, she doesn’t really think she did anything wrong!
NBC News caught up with the former heiress-turned-scammer-turned-artist (?) to discuss her upcoming ventures and what really went on when she was caught lying about her lifestyle. According to Delvey, she actually is a very good person who didn’t scam anyone, just made some slight miscommunications.
“I just like hate seeing all the scammer and fake heiress headlines. So it’s not something I enjoy, like trying to lean in to promote,” Delvey said, before explaining that she is in no way a scammer (despite the receipts). She continued, “The whole definition of fraud is like to permanently deprive somebody of their property.” Delvey added, though that’s not really true. “And that was never my intent. I meant like, my mindset wasn’t, I was like, ‘Oh, let me see how much I can get from this person on that person, they will never see any of that again.'”
When asked if she feels like she has been held accountable, Delvey doubled down on her innocence before pivoting to her social justice work:
Savannah Sellers: What do you say to someone who just feels that you have not taken accountability for what you did for the money that they see you as having scammed people out of?
Anna Sorokin: I never scammed people out of any money. I also repaid everything back. All my restitution is paid off. I said I regret the way that my case has been perceived. And I regret some of the choices I’ve made. I just don’t know what else I can possibly deal with, say, to… I don’t know, to please people. What else can I possibly do?
I’m donating parts of the proceeds of the prints that I’m making to ACLU. And yeah, I’m just trying to give back to the community. And just I’m just trying to advocate for the reform for the criminal justice reform and immigration reform. Because I like we’re one of the three individuals who have been through the system and I do have a voice…But yeah, they just don’t know what, what the problem actually is. So I feel like I have this unique position, and being able to point out what exactly what kind of changes can be implemented. That’s how I just like to say, oh, yeah, we did this, but then it would actually not lead to anything.
Savannah Sellers: So when you now do say, you know, I’ve, some of it was unethical, what was wrong? Tell me specifically, what you believe you did. That was unethical. Which parts of it?
Anna Sorokin: Well, I wish I could tell you that, but my case is still under appeal and my lawyers would hate to see that on TV.
Instead of talking about her antics, she decided to promote her NFTS, of course.
On a lighter note, Delvey mentioned she received a slew of marriage proposals from her fans, who constantly send her letters. “I’m just getting all kinds of marriage proposals. And a lot of people asking me to like, for sketches, some people that are making, like music plays, musical plays about me that asked me for feedback. Some people just like, ‘Oh, I’m just sitting here with my co-worker, and would love for you to like to hear back from you and prove her wrong.’ Or they just say, all the ways, I guess that inspired them.”
She continued, “This is where I’m taking my feedback from. So they basically excitedly say, ‘Oh, you were resilient, and you didn’t quit.’ And this is what people feel inspired by, which I think is a good way they don’t feel inspired by like, any of my legal acts. So what else? Yeah, it’s just all kinds of stuff. So it’s been fun.” Fun is one word to describe it!
