Chris Lange, FISM News

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Anna Sorokin, the convicted Russian-born swindler who was the subject of the popular Netflix series “Inventing Anna,” was released from jail over the weekend.

The 31-year-old had been in ICE detention for 17 months, according to her attorney, the bulk of which was spent at the Orange County Correctional Facility in upstate New York. She has returned to New York City, where she is currently under house arrest.

Immigration Judge Charles Conroy set Sorokin’s bond at $10,000 and released her under the condition that she stay off of social media and remain at her residential address 24 hours a day while her case proceeds.

Sorokin, who claimed to be a German heiress named Anna Delvey, gained notoriety for scamming Manhattan glitterati and financial institutions out of hundreds of thousands in order to fund her lavish lifestyle. She previously served three years in prison on charges of theft and larceny. Sorokin was released in February 2021 but was detained by immigration authorities the following month for overstaying her visa.

She said on Monday that she plans to appeal her conviction and will fight deportation back to Germany.

“Letting them deport me would have been like a sign of capitulation — confirmation of this perception of me as this shallow person who only cares about obscene wealth, and that’s just not the reality,” Sorokin told the New York Times shortly after her release from ICE detention. 

She also said that she is working on a podcast and wants to become an advocate for criminal justice reform to “help” other women.

“We are grateful that the Court agreed that her continued detention is unnecessary,” John Sandweg, a member of Sorokin’s legal team, said in a statement Friday. Sandweg once served as acting ICE director.

Sorokin managed to convince wealthy New Yorkers that she was the heiress to a German solar panel entrepreneur’s fortune. She was considered rude ⁠— even obnoxious ⁠— by some but lavished expensive gifts and enormous tips on the working-class staff at the Howard, a swanky nouveau Boho hotel where she had chosen to camp out.

The attractive young redhead with chunky, black-rimmed glasses and “pouty lips” became well-known among Manhattan’s elite for showing up at all the right places at all the right times ⁠— a party girl who seemed to be everywhere and had all the right connections. Apart from the outlandish scheme, it was Sorokin’s seemingly dichotomous mix of old-world charm, abrupt manner of speaking, and vulnerability that most captivated the media after details about her exploits were revealed in a 2018 New York magazine article.

The article became the basis of Shonda Rhimes’ “Inventing Anna.” The dramatization of Sorokin’s life became one of Netflix’s most popular shows.

Asked by New York Times reporter Emily Palmer if she planned to “glam up” her ankle bracelet, Sorokin replied: “I’m not a glam-it-up type of person, but the possibilities are endless.”