'Fake it until you make it': the strange case of New York's socialite scammer
Judge Diane Kiesel could barely conceal her irritation. Anna Sorokin, the defendant at the centre of a highly publicized art world extortion trial, was refusing to attend proceedings on account of dissatisfaction with her courtroom outfit.
“This is a trial,” Kiesel told Sorkin’s lawyer, Todd Spodek. “She’s a defendant. I’m sorry, her clothing is not up to her standards. Are you asking me to stop this trial because of her wardrobe?”
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“She walked into my life in Gucci sandals and Céline glasses,” wrote Rachel DeLoache Williams, “and showed me a glamorous, frictionless world of hotel living and Le Coucou dinners and infrared saunas and Moroccan vacations. And then she made my $62,000 disappear.”
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According to the New York Post, “Anna Delvey” also tried to scam
“the ultimate con man”, Billy McFarland, who is now jailed in connection with the notorious Fyre festival.
Not surprisingly, her story has gained the attention of filmmakers. Shonda Rhimes, the force behind Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal, has announced she is creating a TV series about Sorokin. Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie have reportedly expressed interest in the lead in a film based on the Vanity Fair story. Sorokin, who has pleaded not guilty, is
reportedly interested in seeing her life on the screen.
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In opening remarks last week, Spodek attempted to present his client like anyone else who comes to New York to make it. He cited a Sinatra anthem, New York, New York, saying the idea of “making a brand new start of it” here “resonates with people all over the world”.
“There’s a little bit of Anna in everyone,” he said. “Everyone lies a little.”
He framed her crimes as “chutzpah” and “moxie”, arguing that the accepted rule of New York’s elite social scene was “fake it until you make it”. He also blamed the influence of social media-obsessed culture.
“Any millennial will tell you,” he said, “it is not uncommon to have delusions of grandeur.”
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