Anna Sorokin, who used the name Anna Delvey to pose as an heiress and bilk elite New Yorkers out of more than $200,000, was found guilty on several charges Thursday. Her story is the focus of planned projects from Shonda Rhimes and Lena Dunham.
Prosecutors said Sorokin/Delvey attempted to steal millions more between November 2016 and August 2017. A Rhimes project based on a New York Magazine story about her will air on Netflix, and Dunham is reportedly working on a second project.
During the trial, Sorokin’s attorney, Todd Spodek, argued that his client had not committed a crime because she planned to pay everyone back, The New York Times reported.
As Delvey, Sorokin wowed potential investors with plans to build a Soho House-style bar, nightclub and art space. She let people believe she was a German heiress, when in fact she was a financially strapped Russian, prosecutors said.
Among the people she misled was Neffatari “Neff” Davis, a hotel concierge and filmmaker, who joined her on a spiraling journey through New York’s money-and-bluffing-based caste system that became the focus of the New York Magazine piece.
Last June, we talked on the “Shoot This Now” podcast about all the reasons the Anna Delvey story would make a great movie. You can listen on Apple or right here: