Fake German heiress Anna Sorokin makes the most of her house arrest as she poses for the camera in a dilapidated walk-up apartment in Manhattan, where she will stay while fighting deportation.
The 31-year-old convicted swindler, who posed as Anna Delvey, spent the last 18 months in ICE custody at an upstate New York prison until she was released Friday night.
Sorokin was convicted in 2019 of defrauding $275,000 from banks, hotels and posh New Yorkers to finance her luxury lifestyle.
she now does sports an ankle monitor and is confined to her new home in the East Village, where a photo shoot appears to be taking place over the weekend.
Fake German heiress Anna Sorokin, 31, poses for a film crew in the window of her new East Village apartment, where she is under house arrest following her release from an upstate prison.
Sorokin is photographed by a crew on the fire escape of her East Village apartment.
Sorokin was convicted in 2019 of defrauding $275,000 from banks, hotels and posh New Yorkers to finance her luxury lifestyle.
Shortly after Sorokin arrived at his apartment, he sat down for an interview with the New York Times and shared how he felt.
‘I’m really happy. Nothing was guaranteed,’ she began. Earlier they denied bail. It was an exercise in perseverance. I was told by many immigration attorneys that I would be deported to Mars before I went to New York. And I just had to find the person who would align with my vision, not take ‘no’ for an answer, and make it happen.”
The one-bedroom apartment his attorney snagged, Sorokin said, was sparsely furnished along with some facility trash bags filled with his immigration papers.
“I could have left, but I chose not to because I’m trying to fix what I did wrong,” he said. “I have so much history in New York and I felt like if I was in Europe, I would be running from something. But if jail doesn’t prove people wrong, then what will?
Asked by The Times what’s next, Sorokin exclaimed: ‘I don’t know. I will have to do so many things. I’m really excited right now, so it’s pretty hard to sleep. I mean guys, I literally just got out of jail!
And on Saturday, Sorokin already seemed to be working on his future plans, with a photo shoot at his East Village apartment.
She was seen posing in one of the windows as photographers perched on a fire escape to get the right angle.
Other shots showed the criminal high on the rooftop, looking down at New Yorkers below her.
On Saturday, Sorokin was seen being photographed high on the roof of her East Village apartment, looking down at New Yorkers below her.
A photographer takes a picture as Sorokin poses above his new apartment in the East Village.
She was also seen posing in one of the windows as photographers perched on a fire escape to get the right angle.
The one-bedroom apartment in the East Village was snagged by his attorney, Sorokin said.
Sorokin’s lawyers successfully appealed to a judge to grant his release on Wednesday.
US Immigration Judge Charles Conroy agreed and placed her under house arrest because “she has shown an interest in seeking legitimate employment in the United States, activities that will face intense public scrutiny.”
But the release was delayed while arrangements were made to post bail.
Judge Conroy said that because Sorokin, 31, is infamous, it would be difficult for her to blend in and avoid detection.
She will be required to comply with release conditions imposed by both the New York State Board of Parole and immigration authorities, which, combined with her status as a public figure, will make it particularly difficult for her to avoid being detected.
For all these reasons, the Court considers that [Sorokin’s] flight risk sufficiently mitigated,’ he said in his ruling.
Sorokin’s immigration attorney, John Sandweg, said in a statement: “Immigrant detention should be reserved for those who pose a danger to society or an unmanageable flight risk.”
“We are pleased that, after 17 months of immigration detention and years after she had served her prison sentence, the court recognized that such detention was no longer appropriate for Ana.
“Make no mistake, she doesn’t get a free pass,” Sandweg added. ‘She will continue to face deportation proceedings and her release will be closely monitored by the government.
“However, as the court found, the continued detention was unnecessary.”
Sorokin wants to stay in the United States, despite not having a visa. She is originally from Russia but she also has ties to Germany.
The convicted swindler, who spent the past 18 months in ICE custody, was taken from the Orange County Jail on Friday and transported to Manhattan.
Sorokin was bundled into a white van that sped out the back door of the prison to prevent the media from waiting. The corner of his glasses can be seen in the back seat.
She rose to notoriety in 2018 after being arrested for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from luxury hotels and restaurants in Manhattan.
Her crimes later became the subject of the popular Netflix series, ‘Inventing Anna’.
Sorokin has been keeping himself busy behind bars with multiple media and podcast interviews.
He has been auctioning off his prison sketches and has also written poetry.
He wrote an article for DailyMail.com last month in which he complained that the US immigration system is broken and said he spent 18 months “sinking down the sinkhole of the US immigration system.”
Sorokin’s immigration attorney, John Sandweg, said in a statement: “Immigrant detention should be reserved for those who pose a danger to society or an unmanageable flight risk.”
“Make no mistake, she doesn’t get a free pass,” Sandweg added. ‘She will continue to face deportation proceedings and her release will be closely monitored by the government.
‘Once you’re in ICE custody, what happens next is left entirely up to ICE. The disturbingly arbitrary nature of the civil immigration detention system allows immigrants to be held indefinitely without a judge reviewing whether bail or electronic monitoring was a suitable alternative to detention,” he added.
‘The prison I am staying in is notorious for its understaffing problem. To help alleviate that problem, in the past few weeks alone, 61 immigrants were removed from this facility without notice and transferred to a facility in Mississippi, where ICE can detain them at a lower cost.
“Now those detainees are far from their local support systems of friends or loved ones, and those who were lucky enough to have lawyers have been robbed of the ability to communicate with them easily and in person. Hearings that are held remotely are not timely for defendants to consult with their attorneys during the process.”
