How much money did Anna Sorokin steal? The real-life ‘Inventing Anna’ on Dancing with the Stars

You may have been enthralled watching the Inventing Anna series on Netflix with little or no knowledge of what has been developing in the real world. The show, of course, was inspired by the fake Russian-German billionaire Anna “Delvey” Sorokin, and in 2022 she was released from ICE detention. Now, she’s all set to hit the dance floor on the hugely popular series, Dancing with the Stars.

Anna Sorokin released but not ‘free’

At the time of her release, John Sandweg, a member of Sorokin’s legal team and former acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement, explained that Anna would “remain under the supervision of ICE, but would be able to fight her deportation free from physical custody.”

The bond was set at $10,000 by immigration judge Charles Conroy, and Sorokin had to follow certain conditions including refraining from the use of any social media accounts and residing at the same address every day. She also had to wear an ankle bracelet which tracks her movements, and that bracelet, slightly more bejewelled it is said, will still be attached as she makes her moves on the show.

The story behind ‘Inventing’ Anna

Sorokin was jailed in 2019 for having swindled hundreds of thousands of dollars from hotels, banks and friends, running her scams under the name Anna Delvey. She managed between 2016 and 2017 to fool New York elites by posing as a wealthy heiress.

A German national, but born near Moscow, the 31-year-old was released from prison in February 2021 for good behaviour after being sentenced two years earlier to between four and 12 years in prison. In March 2021, she was rearrested for remaining in the United States on an expired visa and was held in an immigration enforcement (ICE) facility.

After several administrative appeals over the past year, including one to claim a booster dose of the covid-19 vaccine, she filed an appeal to remain in the U.S., according to the NY Post.

With an off-the-charts poise that allowed her to build an opulent past, the young woman presented herself as a wealthy German heiress to a $60 million fortune, which earned her the trust of friends who lent her tens of thousands of dollars and bank loans. From November 2016 to August 2017, she traveled for free by private plane, stayed in luxury hotels and frequented the most exclusive Manhattan lounges, without ever paying a penny, according to the New York justice who estimated in 2019 that the value of what was swindled amounted to $275,000.

Daughter of a truck driver and a Russian businesswoman she emigrated to Germany in 2007, and arrived in New York in 2013, where she tried to get a $22 million loan to make a select club in Manhattan.

Her shady but exciting story seduced the TV producer Shonda Rhimes (known for Grey’s Anatomy and Scandal) and Julia Garner (Ozark) picked up the lead role. According to reports, Anna Sorokin was paid $320,000 by the streaming giant.