Social grifter Anna Sorokin, who pretended to have a 60 million-euro fortune to scam more than $200,000 from businesses and friends, is now trying to make amends.
Sorokin was paid $320,000 by Netflix for the rights to her life story and details on her grift through New York’s upper echelons of society as faux German heiress Anna Delvey. And the now formerly unrepentant scammer is said to be using the cash influx to pay off her creditors, according to Insider.
Of that money, $199,000 went to pay restitution to the banks, and $24,000 to make good on state fines, according to records reviewed by Insider.
Sorokin reportedly infiltrated New York’s social scene, living in luxury hotels and hobnobbing with the city’s elite. Sorokin was convicted in April 2019 and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison the following month, after a trial that featured frequent sartorial meltdowns that delayed proceedings for hours. After her sentencing, the unrepentant social grifter said, “The thing is, I’m not sorry. I’d be lying to you and to everyone else and to myself if I said I was sorry for anything.”
She changed her tune last year and finally apologized for her crimes, telling a parole board she was remorseful.
Sorokin’s funds were initially frozen in May 2019 under the “Son of Sam” law, designed to stop criminals from making money from their crimes. But after she started paying off her victims, her accounts were unfrozen.
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Fake heiress Anna Sorokin finally says sorry: ‘A lot of people suffered’
Sorokin formally agreed to pay the $70,000 in restitution she still owed to Citibank, court records reviewed by Insider showed. She had already paid the $100,000 she owed to City National Bank. In all, Sorokin has paid $223,000 in restitution and fines as well as $50,000 in legal fees, according to the Wall Street Journal.
Despite filing an appeal, Sorokin moved to ensure that City National Bank and Citibank were paid what they were owed regardless. Her attorney in the appellate case, Audrey A. Thomas, told Insider that Sorokin believed she owed them the money, even though she didn’t believe she stole it.
“She said, ‘You know, I want them to be paid. I didn’t steal the money, but I do owe money, so I’m not going to fight it. That’s not who I am,'” Thomas told Insider.
There is no word on whether she will ever refund her former friend, Vanity Fair writer Rachel Williams. Sorokin invited Williams on a Moroccan extravaganza — and stuck her with the $70,000 bill. However, Williams then sold her story to HBO for what could amount to more than $335,000 and to Simon & Schuster for $300,000.
“I just want to say that I’m really ashamed and I’m really sorry for what I did,” gushed the 29-year-old, according to a transcript of the Oct. 6 hearing. “I completely understand that a lot of people suffered when I thought I was not doing anything wrong.” Sorokin is expected to be released from prison early in February, and has said she will stay with a friend before being deported to Germany.
This article originally appeared on the New York Post.
