Anna Sorokin, who scammed her way into Manhattan high society by posing as a German heiress named Anna Delvey, was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, Judge Diane Kiesel announced on Thursday.
Last month, a jury found Sorokin guilty of four counts of theft of services, three counts of grand larceny, and one count of attempted grand larceny. She'll receive credit for time served and these are concurrent sentences for her eight convictions. Sorokin was also ordered to pay back almost $199,000 (£153,000) in restitution and a fine of $24,000 (£18,500). After her release, she'll be deported.
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Sorokin, the 28-year-old daughter of a former truck driver from Russia, migrated from Germany to the United States in 2014. After her arrival, she reinvented herself and claimed to be a wealthy socialite, alleging her father was a diplomat and an oil baron, depending on who asked.
Over the course of 10 months in 2016, Sorokin defrauded high-profile Manhattan friends and several financial institutions out of $275,000 (£211,000) in cash and services, including a luxury trip to Morocco and a charter flight to and from the Berkshire Hathaway Annual Shareholders Meeting in Omaha, NE.
Prosecutors said she falsified bank records and her identity as part of her scam, which included applying for a $22 million (£17 million) loan to create a private arts club. "This defendant’s alleged criminal conduct spans from check fraud to six-figure stolen loans," Manhattan District Attorney Cyrus Vance, Jr. said in Sorokin's indictment in fall 2017.
Todd Spodek, her defense attorney, argued that Sorokin didn't have criminal intent and instead pretended to be wealthy to get ahead by taking advantage of a system that is "easily seduced by glamour and glitz." He alleged Sorokin had been "buying time" and planned to repay all the money once she was successful.
The case, which earned Sorokin the moniker of "SoHo grifter," attracted national media attention. Her swindling ways were described in great detail by Vanity Fair and New York magazine. Even Shonda Rhimes wants in: Her first Netflix project will be centred around Sorokin. The scammer remained in the news over the course of her monthlong trial, particularly after she hired a former Glamour magazine editor to style her for court.