The world became intrigued by the story of Anna Delvey (née Anna Sorokin) all over again in early 2022, (three years after her very public trial in 2019 where she was convicted of attempted grand larceny, grand larceny and theft), thanks to the Shonda Rhimes Netflix series Inventing Anna. Since then, Sorokin has been vocal in getting her story out there — even while currently detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement — and is ready to move on and create a “more accurate” version of herself than the media portrayed her to be.
She’s sharing her side in a new interview with The Untitled Magazine (out Sept. 29). “I’m not guilty of the narrative the prosecution put out there. Not everything said about me was necessarily true,” Sorokin told Untitled, GRAZIA USA can exclusively report. “I feel like I’m not guilty of the crimes the media charged me with.”
From 2013 to 2017, Sorokin posed as a German heiress moving her way up in New York society while swindling important figures, banks and hotels of over $200,000. After serving two years (she was released for good behavior) she says she “never had the intention to commit fraud.”
“If you understand fraud, the definition is that you criminally deprive somebody of money or things,” she tells The Untitled Magazine‘s Indira Cesarine. “Nobody in the world can tell me what my intentions were. I know the way I was hoping for it to come out, and it just didn’t happen that way. I did something wrong, but it doesn’t make me universally, a hundred percent, an awful person.”
In addition to giving an interview for the magazine’s REBEL issue, Sorokin also created her own artwork titled “No Regrets” for The Untitled Space gallery exhibition. In the “sarcastic” art that’s meant to serve as commentary, she depicted a woman wearing a Gucci gown, which was inspired by Naomi Campbell (who pleaded guilty of assault charges in 2000). The figure stands in front of a Department of Corrections truck with the words “No Regrets” written across the picture.
“You don’t get an option to do anything differently. I tried to learn from my mistakes, fix them, and make something out of it,” Sorokin says. “Regrets are just not the way I deal with the things that happen to me.”
Cesarine told GRAZIA USA that Sorokin was laughing and joking a lot during their interactions (which was “really tricky” to coordinate while Sorokin was in ICE containment) and she believes Sorokin is in a “pretty good headspace” thanks in part to her art and creating NFTs.
“Her artwork has a very humorous irony to it, rather self-deprecating vignettes of her life and experiences as well as how she imagines other people perceive her,” says Cesarine, who features multiple pieces from Sorokin in the magazine. “I think being able to make artwork while in detainment and have it featured in exhibits and publications along with her side of the story is helping her stay more positive.”
Cesarine also thinks the media has portrayed Sorokin incorrectly, in that she was depicted as a “far more calculating person than she really is.”
Cesarine added, “After talking to her my impression was that she really didn’t realize what she was getting herself into or the implications of her actions. I imagine the last few years in prison have also changed her significantly as she came off as very humble, intelligent, and well-spoken. I think she takes on board the fact that she made some major mistakes, but as she told me in the interview ‘Not everything said about me was necessarily true.'”
GRAZIA USA also obtained quotes from Sorokin, who said the thing that keeps her motivated while in ICE is “the prospect of this coming to an end soon.”
As soon as she is released? She’s getting “a salad, my phone and new clothes” — stat.
The Untitled Magazine‘s REBEL issue hits stands Sept. 29
Read GRAZIA USA’s Fall issue featuring cover star Nicola Peltz Beckham:
