May 9, 2019 • 38 mins
Fake German heiress, Anna Sorokin, seemed as concerned with her outfits in court as she did with the fact that she was facing charges of grand larceny after swindling banks, hotels and even her friends.
How did she convince so many that she was a jet-setting socialite with a fortune of $67 million?
Nancy's Expert Panel Weighs In:
Wendy Patrick: Trial Attorney & author of “Red Flags”
Jeff Cortese: Former FBI supervisory special agent
Dr. William July: Psychologist
John Lemley: Crime online investigative reporter
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:05):
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. By twenty sixteen, Anna Delvi
was a regular in the NYC social scene, frequenting many
popular downtown restaurants, bars, and clubs. With an extravagant lifestyle
and a seemingly endless supply of money. Delvi was an
enigma that was made for the age of Instagram, always
(00:29):
at the right place with the right people, living her
best life, but with no apparent cause for her fame.
Her circle of acquaintances was fed various stories as to
how she accumulated her vast wealth. Her father was a
Russian billionaire, a Russian diplomat, an oil tycoon, a Russian
antiques collector, or, a solar energy capitalist. While many parts
(00:49):
of Delve's story were fluid, some things were consistent. Delvey
made no effort to hide her internship at the Paris
magazine Purple, and made it very clear that her dream
was to open a soho house for art and quote upset.
Fake German heiress Anna Sarroken vows to appeal her conviction.
She's found guilty of grand larceny after a life of
(01:11):
fake ripping people off to nearly a quarter of a
million dollars that we know of who would believe a
Russian heiress and for over thousands of dollars, and in
court she was more upset about her designer clothing wardrobe
than she was about being found guilty. Now that's unusual.
(01:32):
I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime Stories. This girl, Anna
Sirokan also known as Anna Delvi, somehow manages to con
soho Elite out of a quarter of a million dollars.
Joining me an all star lineup. Jeff Cortez, a former
FBI special agent, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags,
(01:56):
doctor William and July psychologist, and John Linley, Crime online
Com investigative reporter John Limley help me out. This girl
shows up. Her skin is so pale, she looks like
a ghost. And she's got this long brown hair parted
usually slightly on the side, big glasses, and the hair
(02:16):
hangs down like curtains over her face. You can barely
see the eyes, you know, the hair so close down
right there. I can't see her face. That makes me suspicious.
But who would buy into my dad is a Russian billionaire?
Give me your money? Oops, I forgot my credit card.
What happened? Let's just start at the beginning, Well, Nancy,
(02:38):
apparently a lot of people were just just hungry to
buy into this story. If New York City is a
city of dreams, which we hear it called all the time,
Anna had enough for the entire island. She had longed
to be a member of the upper echelon of Manhattansis
and understand something, John Limley, Crime Online investigation reporter, did
(03:00):
you just call her giant fraud? Ripping people off tens
of thousands of dollars, including one woman that took the
stand a working class person who goes on an all
expense pay trip with her to Morocco and then she
gets stiffed with a sixty five thousand dollar bill. Wait
are you calling that a dream? How go? Wait? Wait?
(03:24):
How dare you dream? Is another person's not? You find
yourself with cliches. Don't the American dream my rear end?
Jeff Corteze, I call it something a lot different than
the American dream. Oh absolutely, I mean this was a
at least on the front end, a well executed fraud.
(03:46):
Over the long term, it didn't. It didn't have the
legs to remain sustainable that a long term. I mean
she managed to pull it off. Wendy Patrick, for you
know what, two years? I forgot how long she managed
to pull the wool over everybody's eyes, going on trips
to Morocco, staying at oh I think it's eleven Howard,
some ritzy. I don't even know how you find that
hotel in New York. It's one of those places I
(04:07):
don't think is even marked. Only rich people go there.
Wendy Patrick. Is what happened to John Limley, the Voice
of Reason. He just called us the American Dream? What well?
I think, I think John Linley, what he was talking
about is there are there are some misguided, vulnerable people
that really are subjected to social predators like Anna, and
(04:29):
you know, some people just are absolutely you guys mentioned
the glamour, the glitz. It's like they want to believe
and this fake it till you make it lifestyle. You know,
nobody even took the time to say, show me the money,
show me the fund, show me the corroboration behind your
wild stories, because caught up in the moment in an
instagram savvy society, people want to be in the company
(04:52):
of people like Anna, and sadly, as a prosecutor, I
am just we are just absolutely just terrified of people
like this that are able to so easily infiltrate our
social network. Being to doctor Williams July, psychologist, author of
a Dark and he did a quit her off, which
I was shocked about, because this girl actually took the
stand grand larceny for allegedly stealing sixty two thousand dollars
(05:16):
from a friend that she said, come along, I'll pay
for everything on a trip to Morocco. Okay, I think
they actually punished the friend because when you go on
a luxurious trip to Morocco, you stay in a five
star hotel. They went to spot treatments that were costing
like three hundred dollars a treatment. You know what, I
(05:37):
take Lucy to let her get her nails done, and
I say, oh no, no, Mommy doesn't want to get
her nails done. I am not paying anybody fifty dollars
to cut my nails. I can do that. I'm okay
with that. Okay. They were spending three hundred dollars for
a forty minute treatment, whatever that treatment may be, by
(05:59):
laying in mud, getting their nails whatever. Three hundred I
think they the jury punished that friend for going along
with the excess, doctor July, Yeah, I mean at worse, Nancy,
what you're looking at in cases like this, at worse
is a psychopathological level of narcissism at best. What you're
(06:19):
looking at as a person who has so much greed
and desire to please herself that she doesn't care what
the consequences are for other people. You were asking earlier,
and I just want to address what you were asking
earlier about why and how can this sort of thing happen.
We're all baffled when we see this, But it's age old.
It's it's a tale as old as time. The Charlotte
(06:42):
than comes in and fools everyone. So there's a part
of people that are looking at this who want to
believe this because they want to hang out with the
person who has this kind of social these types of
social credentials, and they want to believe that she's an
heiress so that they can be with. And people are
blaming social media. It's not the fault of social media.
(07:04):
Social media is just a facilitator to the neediness of
other people who want to believe in accept Why are
you piling on everybody on the panel except Cortez thank goodness.
As keeps talking about the Instagram and society. You know what,
Instagram didn't have a dang thing to do with this.
It was all miss thing Anna Sarokan slash Anna w npsps.
(07:27):
I just found out her parents have disowned her. They
are hard working middle class people that she borrowed a
ton of money borrowed, i e. Stole a ton of
money from them as well. Hey, but she didn't just
create a different identity. Her real name is not annas
to a Russian billionaire, an oil tycoon, or a solar
energy magnate. Her parents, I think the dad drives a truck,
(07:51):
and I know it. That's like my dad, as you know,
worked on the railroad. My mom started as a bank teller.
My grandfather father drove an ice truck and a school bus,
anything to put the food on the table. But she
not only assumed different and identity for herself, but she
also created a whole team of imaginary assistance, an assistant,
(08:15):
an accountant, a manager. Limley, is this true? All of
her imaginary assistance well, and some were not so imaginary.
She even had the concierge at a hotel essentially on
her staff. At her beck and call. She was able
to convince people of not only her wealth, but all
(08:36):
of her aspirations, her dreams. She really wanted to build
this members only arts club on Park Avenue South and
was even working to get the financing for it, and
was not too far this John Limley. She lied to
a bank using phony records. She was not working to
get funding. She was lying through her fate Russian teeth
(09:11):
crime stories with Nancy Grace. Anna, who interned at a
trendy French magazine, reportedly managed to scam extended stays in
swanky Manhattan hotels, dinner at high end restaurants, and flights
on chartered jets to finance her lavish lifestyle and keep
(09:31):
the grift going. She allegedly built banks out of thousands
in cash. And that's not all. The fake heiress reportedly
fleesed her friend out of sixty two thousand dollars for
a world class trip to Morocco. But Anna went too
far when she attempted to take out a loan for
twenty two million dollars to finance a visual arts center
(09:52):
she called the Anna Delvi Foundation. In all, Anna reportedly
scammed a total of two hundred and seventy five thousand dollars,
and his double life began to crumble as hotels went
after her unpaid debts and banks began to investigate her
alleged assets. Wow, that's Jesse Palmer over at Daily Mail TV. Wow. Okay,
so friends and acquaintances. Say Sirokan spent years playing the
(10:15):
part of an art obsessed German heiress. Sometimes she'd be Russian,
sometimes she'd be German. She had an accent to go
with it, rubbing shoulders with the fashion lad at Paris
Fashion Week, frequently spotted in London night spots. Then those
who knew her saw her at a party in Berlin.
She told everybody she had just flown in on a
(10:38):
private jet. How did she pull it off? Scamming nearly
three hundred thousand dollars. It was only when these ritzy
hotels in New York went after her to pay her
bills that the whole thing fell apart. But what really
amazed me. You know, I don't know if you do
this or not. Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red
(10:59):
Fly on Amazon. Wendy, under the constitution, you can't force
a defendant into court in handcuffs or leg irons or
waist shackle. You can't force them to come in in
inmate jumpsuit, prison blues or orange or stripes, whatever the
case may be. But I would always keep a jacket
(11:23):
and pants and a couple of different sizes in my office.
So when a defendant would show up on Monday morning
trial calendar and say, oh, yeah, I want to go
to trial, but I don't have a suit, I go, oh,
I do have a suit for you, and they, of
course I never had it clean ever in the ten
years that I prosecuted, so they would just have to
wear the suit. But she was more concerned about what
(11:45):
she wore to court every day. She had She actually
had a personal dresser dialist dressing her for court. Wendy. Yeah,
you know, Nancy, what you're describing really is something hopefully
the judge will take into considering it sentencing, because it's
this entire mentality of I don't want to say just
not getting it. That would be too kind. It's a
(12:06):
complete underappreciation, or I should say non appreciation for the
fact that the rest of us work for a living.
Her family works for a living. There is so much
more to life than clothes and appearance as an image.
You know, one of the things that distinguishes this case
is the fact that this over emphasis on image, on money,
on glamour sounds like it absolutely overrode every ounce of
(12:27):
judgment that she had and to take that into the courtroom,
as you mentioned, Nancy is probably a little bit beyond
the pale. Well, listen to our friends and inside edition.
This is Diane McInerney. This woman may look like she
has dressed for a fascist show, and in her designer does,
but they want to be socialite. Is actually on trial
for swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting people.
She was so concerned about how she looked in court
(12:48):
she actually hired a stylist. Is she in a courtroom
or at a red carpet event? Anasaur Kid is accused
of posing as an heiress to live an extravagant lifestyle,
But it's what she's wearing to trial that is making headlines.
The twenty seven year old defendant showed up wearing a
form fitting black dress with a plunging neckline and choker necklace.
It's a look that could backfire. Warren stylist Don Karen
(13:11):
black dress definitely a no no no. A hyper sexualize her.
It makes her appear to be like a seductress. The
choker kind of shows to me that she's trying to
be overtly sexy. The more sexy she appears to be,
it hurts her skin. Is so obsessed with her clothes.
She refused to enter the courtroom because the outfit she
(13:32):
was given to wear was not up to her standards.
The angry judge told her this is unacceptable and inappropriate.
This is not a fashion show. Sorkin's lawyer, Todd Spodek
says accounts of his client delaying the trial because of
fashion are being blown out of proportion. It's not that
she didn't want to come out only because of the clothes.
She's going through a major criminal trial that's publicized every day.
(13:56):
It's emotional and it's her life. Don't cry too much
for Anna, because apparently there's a bidding war going on
for her story. I guess it's going to end up
on Netflix or HBO or maybe even on the big screen.
She'll make a mint out of that. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is crime stories. Everybody, thank you for being with us.
She was living a life that many people, not me,
(14:19):
but many people dream of. She made a show of
proving she belonged with the rich and famous, decked out
in signature Selene glasses, Gucci sandals, high end boas from
nat to Porte at Last Walker, she usually hold up
in a four hundred dollars a night room for months
(14:42):
on in at Manhattan's very very luxurious eleven Howard Hotel.
Concierge at the hotel said they became friends when she
would repeatedly routinely pass out Chris one hundred dollars tips
(15:02):
to both of them and Uber drivers. When I hear
the words crisp one hundred dollars, how many hundred dollars
bills do you have, Jackie? I don't think I have any.
I think John David has one, and it's hidden in
his bathroom under his brush. I happen to know where
it is. One that I know of that I think
my mother gave him. So Jeff Cortez, former FBI special Agent.
(15:25):
When I hear the word crisp one hundred dollar bills,
that means you just got him out of an ATM
or from the bank. So how did she manage to
defraud the bank to get cash, to tip concierge to
fake for her. Yeah, that's a great question, you know.
I think it's a numbers game in many respects. There
(15:45):
were multiple banks engaged in her activity. She appears, based
on the information, limited her trips back to the same well,
though she would go back to the same bank on
occasion for certain certain banking activity. She did share the
wealth amongst the banks within New York so as not
(16:06):
to draw too much attention over an extended period of time. Well,
what I understand that she did, and I'm going to
have to get clarity on this, is that she would
provide fake bank records to one bank and then they
would She was trying to get a massive loan for
twenty two million, so they wanted a down payment, So
(16:27):
she faked records and got I don't know, fifty two
one hundred grand from one bank and used that money
to get a loan as a down payment on a loan,
a bigger loan at another bank, none of the banks
realizing what the others were doing. Another thing that really
fascinates me, doctor Williams. July, and not in a good way.
It's like looking at a tarantula under a glass box. Okay,
(16:48):
that sort of fascination is the way she carried on
this big, huge imaginary life. She would splash out on
shopping spreeze at boutiques, very expensive personal training sessions and
beautician appointments, and she would always bring along a friend
and pay for them and they would be all impressed.
(17:10):
The social elite as they call themselves, would go to
lavish and large dinners for celebs, artist CEOs. I'm all
in restaurants there in Soho And if you do look
at her online, she's always drinking a big glass of
wine at some beautiful location. How can an adult have
(17:33):
that type of an imaginary life? I mean, I know
when children have an imaginary friend, there's all sorts of
psychological reasons for that, maybe just security, But an adult,
certainly people can have these types of imaginary lives and
they're going to recruit other people just because of the
chronological age does not make a person have the maturation
(17:55):
that they should have. And then that can be from
a lot of different things, but certainly, as much as
she can get other people to buy into this, then
that's because she's going to continue and she's going to
expand that imaginary life, and people can be very charming,
They can be very off putting. Excuse me, they can
be very charming, and they can be very persuasive, and
(18:15):
they can get other people to buy in. There are
people that can go into banks and they can fake
a story, and they can get people to believe that
it happens every day. And this is a person who
can do that. And the imaginary fast parts of this.
I mean, I wouldn't. I haven't examined her, so I
can't go so far as to say she's delusional or
anything like that, but clearly she has the ability, maybe
(18:37):
a pathological type of charm. Some people can do that.
And also you have to remember other people are buying
into this because the banks aren't changing credentials properly, friends
aren't following enough to see if she knows other people
in the circle. So it's it's even more. It's even
larger than just about her prime stories with Nancy Grace.
(19:12):
The trial has begun in the case of the woman
who led people to believe she was a German heiress
named Anna Delvi. Twenty eight year old Anna Sorkin is
set to stand trial Wednesday on charges of grand larceny
and theft of services after allegedly swindling two hundred and
seventy five thousand dollars over the course of ten months,
according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Sarokin is also
(19:33):
accused of living in New York City hotel rooms she
could not pay for, attempting to secure a twenty two
million dollar loan to build a private arts club using
false bank statements purporting that she had millions of dollars overseas,
as well as leaving a friend with a sixty two
thousand dollars bill for a trip to Morocco she allegedly
promised to pay for. Prosecutor Catherine McCaw says the defendant
(19:53):
has not a sent to her name as far as
we can determine, also noting that Sarokin is Russian born,
not German, and though she could be deported to Germany
no matter how the trial turns out, as she's reportedly
overstayed her visa under the name Anna Delvi, she arrived
in New York with a high priced wardrobe and was
known for handing out one hundred dollars cash tips, reportedly
saying at different points that her father was a diplomat,
(20:16):
an oil baron, or involved in the solar panel business,
none of which are the case. People who knew her
said she often asked others to use their credit cards
to cover cab and plane fares and then failing to
repay them. Our friend Michael Cissack at time at Magazine Online, Yeah,
there was one story that came out at trial how
she hired a PR firm to organize her birthday party
(20:37):
in Soho. It emerged she never paid the bill. During
her stay at eleven Howard, she struck up a friend
there in addition to the concierge is to and ask
for the recommendations for the very very very best food
in Soho. We also learned that on one occasion she
(21:00):
invited friends to dinner at Soho St and Bro and
the friend ended up paying a whopper massive bill when
Sarokan's twelve credit cards were all declined, but Sarakan paid
her back triple the amount the following day in cash.
(21:21):
We also learned that she would go to unique treatments
like infrared saunas in the East Village, go out to
dinner after celebrity training sessions with Casey Duke which Sarakan
also paid for John Lemley. How did she get money
(21:43):
from one bank to get a loan from another bank?
How did that works? It's a very interesting line to follow.
How she did this. She would go to a bank
and ask for a certain line of credit based on
one a lot of times just a promise of the
(22:03):
fact that she had millions overseas that she could repay
the loan, and she would go from one bank with
that money to another bank and get an even larger
In fact, here's an example. She talked to a to
an executive with City National Bank into giving her a
(22:26):
line of credit on her account for one hundred thousand dollars,
promising to repay it with a wire transfer from a
European account. She'd used that money in a failed attempt
to secure a twenty five million dollar loan from Fortress
Investment Group, and one of the managing directors at Fortress
(22:48):
has said that she ran into problems providing details about
the origin of her wealth. Someone actually thought to ask
about that. You know, her lies became more and more spectacular.
Wendy Patrick, California Prosecutor. In fact, she even managed to
charter a private plane on one occasion with absolutely zero money. Wendy,
(23:08):
how do you do that? Yeah? The level of sophistication Nancy,
as John was explaining and as we know now looking back,
was absolutely stunning. It was almost as if she was
daring authorities to catch her in this escalating scheme of sophistication.
And you know, the answer to how you do that
is the same way we commit we see people committing
other crimes. Is sometimes people are so trusting because image matters.
(23:32):
You know, This is something I talk about in my book.
We tend to attribute all these positive qualities to somebody
who comes across as believable, whether they're pretty, or that
we like what they say, or were enamored with their
acts and or their clothes. All the types of things
that Anna used to get ahead can fool other people
into letting them acquire the kind of wealth and as
you point out, tangible benefits that this young lady did.
(23:54):
It's amazing to me that Hollywood is scrambling right now
to try to get the rights to her story. This
is her disowner and say she borrowed money from them.
Two school friends back in Russia and Germany reveal she
was nicknamed Barbie and her favorite movie was Mean Girls.
Talk about Red Flags, John Leman, tell me about the
(24:16):
lux treatment she got in Morocco where she ended up
stiffing her friend with the bill. Well, when they went
to Marrakesh, she went with a friend and she had
offered to pay for everything. Now her friend actually offered
to help pay, but she said, no, no, no, you
work hard for your money, harder for your money than
(24:38):
I do. This is my treat. And they would go
out for a round of drinks and oops, she forgot
her credit cards. So she would ask, you know, very quietly,
if the friend could, you know, just cover this one check.
And that would happen over and over and over again.
And this friend, in the end ended up covering the
(25:01):
sixty two thousand dollars cost of the flights, dining, shopping,
and the stay at a hotel where they had a
private villa with a courtyard, a pool, and a butler,
all the extravagance that you might say was fit for,
say a Kardashian, a sixty two thousand dollar vacation that
(25:23):
is more than most people make an entire year. While
in Marrakesh, Morocco, Sorokan aka Delvy took part in all
the activities the hotel had to offer. For instance, they
took private tennis lessons. They ate breakfast pool side. A
(25:43):
butler would deliver them fresh watermelons and bottles of rose.
They roamed the gardens, relaxed, swam and the villa's private pool,
took a tour of the wine cellar, ate dinner with
live Moroccan music, before capping off their nights with cocktails
(26:08):
at the Churchill Bar. I mean, this is a trip
that most people only dream of, you know, Wendy Patrick.
Don't laugh. But a couple of weekends ago, we really
lived it up. I took the children camping, we went fishing.
We built fires with our own hands, of course, and
(26:28):
I did not use light or fluid this time after
my disastrous RV trip. Okay from twigs that we picked
up and gathered wood and built fires. Yes, I can
build a fire two nights in a row. And had
hot dogs. I don't mean gourmet hot dogs. I mean
(26:50):
the pink kind that you're not really sure what they are.
They're long and skinny and slimy at the grocery store.
And then we made some moores. And can I tell
you it was one of the happiest weekends of my
whole life. The twins are still talking about it, and
then I'm looking at this girl and I feel blessed
(27:12):
of gotten to do that. Believe me, I'm not complaining.
I'm I'm I'm counting my blessings. But i mean, really
fresh watermelon and rose poolside in Marrakesh, and it's all
a big money grab. I mean, my stomach is just
hurting because I'm thinking about my dad, who would go
to work on the railroad when even when he had
chest pains, and when I would wake up in the
(27:34):
morning at seven o'clock, my mom was already gone to
work at a canning company, and there would be three
bowls of grits and three little cups of coffee half milk,
half coffee sitting there for us because she'd be long
gone to work. And now here's miss thing having a
(27:55):
nearly seventy thousand dollars vacation built on crime. Yeah, you know, Nancy,
one of the things your camping story illustrates is that
the best things in life are free, and everybody knows that.
So when you look at a story like this, part
of I think the offense that everyone is taking is
to use crime and criminal activity to build a fake
(28:17):
world where people pay the kind of money that most
of us would never do even if we had it.
When you talk about the value of hard work the
way we were all raised, it sounds like those she
surrounded herself were really taken with the fact that someone
they believed was as rich and famous as she was
would be interested in them. That is a basic human need. Ironically,
(28:38):
that was being satisfied through crime and through, as you
pointed out earlier, having this imaginary friend that's larger than life.
That's how she built this criminal umpire crime stories with
(29:01):
Nancy Grace her true history. I'm talking about Anna Sirokan
aka Anna Delvi. You know, I don't know about you,
Jeff Cortez, a FBI special agent, but I loved it
when I would. Of course, the prosecutor gets in front
of an entire jury panel and reads the indictment before
(29:21):
you begin jury selection, so everybody knows who's charged with
what and what all the counts are. And I would
love it to say State versus Jeff Cortize aka Charlie
Tuna aka the Hammer aka Blah blah blah, and so
forth and so on. I would love reading out ten
(29:44):
or twelve aliases, and by the time you're done reading that,
the jury just looks at the person because you're so
You're you're guilty. You're guilty. Why are you? Why do
you have twelve aliases? And this girl, I'm telling you,
not only had eliases, but she had fake assistance. She
lied about her mom and dad who they really are.
(30:06):
The reality is that her father was a truck driver
and he went on to work at or start a
heating and air conditioned business. The friends in school called
her Barbie and her favorite movie was Mean Girls. And
(30:28):
I don't think that's any of that is good. Okay,
that means nothing good, Jeff Cartize, no hit on the head.
You know, the minute individuals start layering themselves with aliases
and aka's, you know, they're they're putting up walls and
barriers that that any jury is going to be able
to see through. You know, she really executed a well
(30:51):
thought out plan against the banks, using multiple techniques and
methods to siphon money from them. Uh, you know, from
from top to bottom. She exploited what people want to
see and exploited the type of lifestyle that people want
to have to the extent that, you know, if I
was going to run an undercover I would I would
(31:12):
have done many of the techniques that that she did
in order to manipulate my audience. Well, another aspect to this,
John Lumley, is I remember one day when John David
came running home and so and So's mom is so cool.
She works for Chick fil A and she gets free
(31:32):
T shirts and she gets this, and she gets that.
I think the lady who's very lovely was in marketing
or pr and would bring home, you know, like a
T shirt or a moocau or whatever they had. And
I thought briefly of creating a different persona to try
to impress John David's friends, who were then four years old. Okay,
(31:58):
but I just decided, no, I'm just gonna with the truth,
you know, let the chips fall where they may. But
John Lemley, I mean, that would hurt me if I
found out the twins were lying about their mom and dad,
that what we are isn't good enough to fit in
to their self image they're projecting, that would really hurt
(32:21):
my feelers. And that's exactly the way her parents felt
about the whole thing. They actually did help fund her
through college and as she was getting out on her own,
but there was never any sort of trust fund. She
moved to Germany in two thousand and seven, and after
she dropped out of college, she interned in public relations
(32:43):
before then moving to Paris and became an intern at
Purple Magazine. Once she arrived in New York City, she
just somehow managed to be in all the sort of
right places. And she was this German heiress, according to her,
with a father that you would think, wait a minute,
I thought she was supposed to be a Russian heiress. Well, no,
(33:07):
she was from Russia, but she told people she was
a German heiress. What's really funny, though, is that her German,
according to a lot of people, was terrible. M I
want you to take a listen to what the defense
claims in closing arguments. She had to fake it until
she could make it. Those words from the defendant's own attorney,
(33:27):
who claims she never intended to commit a crime, but
prosecutors call her fraud and a liar who would do
almost anything to prolong her life of luxury. This morning,
the fate of an alleged scam artist is now in
the hands of a jury, both sides wrapping up arguments
for a case that's drawn international outrage. The style savvy
(33:49):
defendant even turning heads in court wearing an animal print dress.
She called herself Anna Delvi, a fashionable globetrotter who prosecutors
say was pretending to be a high flying ran heiress
living a fairytale life of glitz and glam among Manhattan's elite.
That is amor, Prosecutors say, the twenty eight year old,
(34:18):
whose real name is Anna Sorkin, stole two hundred and
seventy five thousand dollars from banks, hotels, and friends, all
part of an elaborate scheme to keep up her illusion
of grander. Prosecutors also alleged Sorkin tried securing a twenty
two million dollars loan to operate a private club, claims
her lawyer denies. I do not believe she had the
(34:39):
intent to ever commit a crime. Whether she owes people money,
that's effect of life. That's that's the reality of doing
business in New York. Now facing charges of grand larceny
and theft, she could spend up to fifteen years in
prison if convicted, but officials say even if acquitted, she
will be deported to Germany. Sorkin's attorney says she got
in over her head but was just buying time until
(35:01):
she could pay everyone back. You're hearing our buddy Johnson
at GMA, at ABC pay everybody back. I saw no
signs of paying everybody back and calling this doing business.
That's certainly putting perfume on the pig. Now you know
there's a problem. Wendy Patcheck, California prosecutor and author of
red Flags. When the defense to theft and fraud is
(35:25):
fake it till you make it, okay, I would not
say that that's a valid defense and a fraud case
you're admitting you're faking it. It's probably not a good
theme for the defense one. I'm sure they're rethinking right
about now. You don't want to that's kind of playing
right into the prosecutor's case. Now what they probably were
trying to do, interestingly in trial and Nancy, you and
(35:47):
I have both seen this is really kind of painting
this vulnerability picture of the defendant to try to make
somebody feel sorry for her, that she was caught up
in this false lifestyle, felt she had to pretend she
was somebody she wasn't who can't relate to that. There's
a little bit of Anna and all of us, you know,
some of the themes we saw. What I want to
isolate what you just said. The defense argued at trial
(36:09):
as if Anna Sarrokan aka Anna Delphi was some type
of a renegade and a rebel, someone who was, you know,
making her own path in the world creatively. B As,
don't tell me there's a little bit of Anna Sarrokan
in me, because that was their defense. There's a little
(36:29):
bit of Anna and all of us. Oh no, because
she is a fraud, a thief, and she ripped people
off and they're never gonna get repaid. Wendy, right, that's
what I'm saying that. Well, that's blably why she was convicted,
because these defenses are just not realistic to jurors, to
hard working jurors that go on camping trips like you did,
(36:51):
and Jess cannot relate to the fact that we are
anything like this picture of Anna. Nonetheless, we have seen
this defense time and again and thankfully it is not successful.
You know. And speaking of mellow camping trip, God willing
I get to go one another one take a listen
to this. The courtroom drama played out late into the evening.
(37:12):
At one point the jury appeared deadlock, the defense asking
for a mistrial, but then the verdict, jurors agreeing with
the prosecution that Anna Saurakin built her fairytale life on
a foundation of theft and lies. Overnight, a New York
City jury finding socialite Annasaurkan, a so called SOHO grifter,
guilty on eight counts, including grand larceny, attempted grand larceny,
(37:36):
and theft of services. Prosecutors arguing the twenty eight year
old stole a quarter of a million dollars from banks, hotels,
and friends to fund a lavish lifestyle. The jurors obviously
believed our point of view and followed our logic and
acquitted her for the top charges. I'm sad and that
she was convicted of some of the other charges. Prosecutors
say the Russian born Sorokin, who called herself Anna Delvi,
(37:59):
was pretending to be a high flying German heiress living
a life of glamor among Manhattan's elite. Authorities say she
even forged financial documents hoping to get a twenty two
million dollar loan to open a private club in the
Big Apple. While she was turned down, she did convince
one bank to loan her one hundred thousand dollars, which
she never paid back or lawyer saying she meant to
(38:21):
but had gotten in over her head and was just
buying time. Well, I guarantee you she's not getting breakfast
in bad fresh watermelon and rose A Rikers Nancy Grace
crime Story signing off Goodbye friend.
Crime stories with Nancy Grace. By twenty sixteen, Anna Delvi
was a regular in the NYC social scene, frequenting many
popular downtown restaurants, bars, and clubs. With an extravagant lifestyle
and a seemingly endless supply of money. Delvi was an
enigma that was made for the age of Instagram, always
(00:29):
at the right place with the right people, living her
best life, but with no apparent cause for her fame.
Her circle of acquaintances was fed various stories as to
how she accumulated her vast wealth. Her father was a
Russian billionaire, a Russian diplomat, an oil tycoon, a Russian
antiques collector, or, a solar energy capitalist. While many parts
(00:49):
of Delve's story were fluid, some things were consistent. Delvey
made no effort to hide her internship at the Paris
magazine Purple, and made it very clear that her dream
was to open a soho house for art and quote upset.
Fake German heiress Anna Sarroken vows to appeal her conviction.
She's found guilty of grand larceny after a life of
(01:11):
fake ripping people off to nearly a quarter of a
million dollars that we know of who would believe a
Russian heiress and for over thousands of dollars, and in
court she was more upset about her designer clothing wardrobe
than she was about being found guilty. Now that's unusual.
(01:32):
I'm Nancy Grace. This is crime Stories. This girl, Anna
Sirokan also known as Anna Delvi, somehow manages to con
soho Elite out of a quarter of a million dollars.
Joining me an all star lineup. Jeff Cortez, a former
FBI special agent, Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red Flags,
(01:56):
doctor William and July psychologist, and John Linley, Crime online
Com investigative reporter John Limley help me out. This girl
shows up. Her skin is so pale, she looks like
a ghost. And she's got this long brown hair parted
usually slightly on the side, big glasses, and the hair
(02:16):
hangs down like curtains over her face. You can barely
see the eyes, you know, the hair so close down
right there. I can't see her face. That makes me suspicious.
But who would buy into my dad is a Russian billionaire?
Give me your money? Oops, I forgot my credit card.
What happened? Let's just start at the beginning, Well, Nancy,
(02:38):
apparently a lot of people were just just hungry to
buy into this story. If New York City is a
city of dreams, which we hear it called all the time,
Anna had enough for the entire island. She had longed
to be a member of the upper echelon of Manhattansis
and understand something, John Limley, Crime Online investigation reporter, did
(03:00):
you just call her giant fraud? Ripping people off tens
of thousands of dollars, including one woman that took the
stand a working class person who goes on an all
expense pay trip with her to Morocco and then she
gets stiffed with a sixty five thousand dollar bill. Wait
are you calling that a dream? How go? Wait? Wait?
(03:24):
How dare you dream? Is another person's not? You find
yourself with cliches. Don't the American dream my rear end?
Jeff Corteze, I call it something a lot different than
the American dream. Oh absolutely, I mean this was a
at least on the front end, a well executed fraud.
(03:46):
Over the long term, it didn't. It didn't have the
legs to remain sustainable that a long term. I mean
she managed to pull it off. Wendy Patrick, for you
know what, two years? I forgot how long she managed
to pull the wool over everybody's eyes, going on trips
to Morocco, staying at oh I think it's eleven Howard,
some ritzy. I don't even know how you find that
hotel in New York. It's one of those places I
(04:07):
don't think is even marked. Only rich people go there.
Wendy Patrick. Is what happened to John Limley, the Voice
of Reason. He just called us the American Dream? What well?
I think, I think John Linley, what he was talking
about is there are there are some misguided, vulnerable people
that really are subjected to social predators like Anna, and
(04:29):
you know, some people just are absolutely you guys mentioned
the glamour, the glitz. It's like they want to believe
and this fake it till you make it lifestyle. You know,
nobody even took the time to say, show me the money,
show me the fund, show me the corroboration behind your
wild stories, because caught up in the moment in an
instagram savvy society, people want to be in the company
(04:52):
of people like Anna, and sadly, as a prosecutor, I
am just we are just absolutely just terrified of people
like this that are able to so easily infiltrate our
social network. Being to doctor Williams July, psychologist, author of
a Dark and he did a quit her off, which
I was shocked about, because this girl actually took the
stand grand larceny for allegedly stealing sixty two thousand dollars
(05:16):
from a friend that she said, come along, I'll pay
for everything on a trip to Morocco. Okay, I think
they actually punished the friend because when you go on
a luxurious trip to Morocco, you stay in a five
star hotel. They went to spot treatments that were costing
like three hundred dollars a treatment. You know what, I
(05:37):
take Lucy to let her get her nails done, and
I say, oh no, no, Mommy doesn't want to get
her nails done. I am not paying anybody fifty dollars
to cut my nails. I can do that. I'm okay
with that. Okay. They were spending three hundred dollars for
a forty minute treatment, whatever that treatment may be, by
(05:59):
laying in mud, getting their nails whatever. Three hundred I
think they the jury punished that friend for going along
with the excess, doctor July, Yeah, I mean at worse, Nancy,
what you're looking at in cases like this, at worse
is a psychopathological level of narcissism at best. What you're
(06:19):
looking at as a person who has so much greed
and desire to please herself that she doesn't care what
the consequences are for other people. You were asking earlier,
and I just want to address what you were asking
earlier about why and how can this sort of thing happen.
We're all baffled when we see this, But it's age old.
It's it's a tale as old as time. The Charlotte
(06:42):
than comes in and fools everyone. So there's a part
of people that are looking at this who want to
believe this because they want to hang out with the
person who has this kind of social these types of
social credentials, and they want to believe that she's an
heiress so that they can be with. And people are
blaming social media. It's not the fault of social media.
(07:04):
Social media is just a facilitator to the neediness of
other people who want to believe in accept Why are
you piling on everybody on the panel except Cortez thank goodness.
As keeps talking about the Instagram and society. You know what,
Instagram didn't have a dang thing to do with this.
It was all miss thing Anna Sarokan slash Anna w npsps.
(07:27):
I just found out her parents have disowned her. They
are hard working middle class people that she borrowed a
ton of money borrowed, i e. Stole a ton of
money from them as well. Hey, but she didn't just
create a different identity. Her real name is not annas
to a Russian billionaire, an oil tycoon, or a solar
energy magnate. Her parents, I think the dad drives a truck,
(07:51):
and I know it. That's like my dad, as you know,
worked on the railroad. My mom started as a bank teller.
My grandfather father drove an ice truck and a school bus,
anything to put the food on the table. But she
not only assumed different and identity for herself, but she
also created a whole team of imaginary assistance, an assistant,
(08:15):
an accountant, a manager. Limley, is this true? All of
her imaginary assistance well, and some were not so imaginary.
She even had the concierge at a hotel essentially on
her staff. At her beck and call. She was able
to convince people of not only her wealth, but all
(08:36):
of her aspirations, her dreams. She really wanted to build
this members only arts club on Park Avenue South and
was even working to get the financing for it, and
was not too far this John Limley. She lied to
a bank using phony records. She was not working to
get funding. She was lying through her fate Russian teeth
(09:11):
crime stories with Nancy Grace. Anna, who interned at a
trendy French magazine, reportedly managed to scam extended stays in
swanky Manhattan hotels, dinner at high end restaurants, and flights
on chartered jets to finance her lavish lifestyle and keep
(09:31):
the grift going. She allegedly built banks out of thousands
in cash. And that's not all. The fake heiress reportedly
fleesed her friend out of sixty two thousand dollars for
a world class trip to Morocco. But Anna went too
far when she attempted to take out a loan for
twenty two million dollars to finance a visual arts center
(09:52):
she called the Anna Delvi Foundation. In all, Anna reportedly
scammed a total of two hundred and seventy five thousand dollars,
and his double life began to crumble as hotels went
after her unpaid debts and banks began to investigate her
alleged assets. Wow, that's Jesse Palmer over at Daily Mail TV. Wow. Okay,
so friends and acquaintances. Say Sirokan spent years playing the
(10:15):
part of an art obsessed German heiress. Sometimes she'd be Russian,
sometimes she'd be German. She had an accent to go
with it, rubbing shoulders with the fashion lad at Paris
Fashion Week, frequently spotted in London night spots. Then those
who knew her saw her at a party in Berlin.
She told everybody she had just flown in on a
(10:38):
private jet. How did she pull it off? Scamming nearly
three hundred thousand dollars. It was only when these ritzy
hotels in New York went after her to pay her
bills that the whole thing fell apart. But what really
amazed me. You know, I don't know if you do
this or not. Wendy Patrick, California prosecutor, author of Red
(10:59):
Fly on Amazon. Wendy, under the constitution, you can't force
a defendant into court in handcuffs or leg irons or
waist shackle. You can't force them to come in in
inmate jumpsuit, prison blues or orange or stripes, whatever the
case may be. But I would always keep a jacket
(11:23):
and pants and a couple of different sizes in my office.
So when a defendant would show up on Monday morning
trial calendar and say, oh, yeah, I want to go
to trial, but I don't have a suit, I go, oh,
I do have a suit for you, and they, of
course I never had it clean ever in the ten
years that I prosecuted, so they would just have to
wear the suit. But she was more concerned about what
(11:45):
she wore to court every day. She had She actually
had a personal dresser dialist dressing her for court. Wendy. Yeah,
you know, Nancy, what you're describing really is something hopefully
the judge will take into considering it sentencing, because it's
this entire mentality of I don't want to say just
not getting it. That would be too kind. It's a
(12:06):
complete underappreciation, or I should say non appreciation for the
fact that the rest of us work for a living.
Her family works for a living. There is so much
more to life than clothes and appearance as an image.
You know, one of the things that distinguishes this case
is the fact that this over emphasis on image, on money,
on glamour sounds like it absolutely overrode every ounce of
(12:27):
judgment that she had and to take that into the courtroom,
as you mentioned, Nancy is probably a little bit beyond
the pale. Well, listen to our friends and inside edition.
This is Diane McInerney. This woman may look like she
has dressed for a fascist show, and in her designer does,
but they want to be socialite. Is actually on trial
for swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from unsuspecting people.
She was so concerned about how she looked in court
(12:48):
she actually hired a stylist. Is she in a courtroom
or at a red carpet event? Anasaur Kid is accused
of posing as an heiress to live an extravagant lifestyle,
But it's what she's wearing to trial that is making headlines.
The twenty seven year old defendant showed up wearing a
form fitting black dress with a plunging neckline and choker necklace.
It's a look that could backfire. Warren stylist Don Karen
(13:11):
black dress definitely a no no no. A hyper sexualize her.
It makes her appear to be like a seductress. The
choker kind of shows to me that she's trying to
be overtly sexy. The more sexy she appears to be,
it hurts her skin. Is so obsessed with her clothes.
She refused to enter the courtroom because the outfit she
(13:32):
was given to wear was not up to her standards.
The angry judge told her this is unacceptable and inappropriate.
This is not a fashion show. Sorkin's lawyer, Todd Spodek
says accounts of his client delaying the trial because of
fashion are being blown out of proportion. It's not that
she didn't want to come out only because of the clothes.
She's going through a major criminal trial that's publicized every day.
(13:56):
It's emotional and it's her life. Don't cry too much
for Anna, because apparently there's a bidding war going on
for her story. I guess it's going to end up
on Netflix or HBO or maybe even on the big screen.
She'll make a mint out of that. I'm Nancy Grace.
This is crime stories. Everybody, thank you for being with us.
She was living a life that many people, not me,
(14:19):
but many people dream of. She made a show of
proving she belonged with the rich and famous, decked out
in signature Selene glasses, Gucci sandals, high end boas from
nat to Porte at Last Walker, she usually hold up
in a four hundred dollars a night room for months
(14:42):
on in at Manhattan's very very luxurious eleven Howard Hotel.
Concierge at the hotel said they became friends when she
would repeatedly routinely pass out Chris one hundred dollars tips
(15:02):
to both of them and Uber drivers. When I hear
the words crisp one hundred dollars, how many hundred dollars
bills do you have, Jackie? I don't think I have any.
I think John David has one, and it's hidden in
his bathroom under his brush. I happen to know where
it is. One that I know of that I think
my mother gave him. So Jeff Cortez, former FBI special Agent.
(15:25):
When I hear the word crisp one hundred dollar bills,
that means you just got him out of an ATM
or from the bank. So how did she manage to
defraud the bank to get cash, to tip concierge to
fake for her. Yeah, that's a great question, you know.
I think it's a numbers game in many respects. There
(15:45):
were multiple banks engaged in her activity. She appears, based
on the information, limited her trips back to the same well,
though she would go back to the same bank on
occasion for certain certain banking activity. She did share the
wealth amongst the banks within New York so as not
(16:06):
to draw too much attention over an extended period of time. Well,
what I understand that she did, and I'm going to
have to get clarity on this, is that she would
provide fake bank records to one bank and then they
would She was trying to get a massive loan for
twenty two million, so they wanted a down payment, So
(16:27):
she faked records and got I don't know, fifty two
one hundred grand from one bank and used that money
to get a loan as a down payment on a loan,
a bigger loan at another bank, none of the banks
realizing what the others were doing. Another thing that really
fascinates me, doctor Williams. July, and not in a good way.
It's like looking at a tarantula under a glass box. Okay,
(16:48):
that sort of fascination is the way she carried on
this big, huge imaginary life. She would splash out on
shopping spreeze at boutiques, very expensive personal training sessions and
beautician appointments, and she would always bring along a friend
and pay for them and they would be all impressed.
(17:10):
The social elite as they call themselves, would go to
lavish and large dinners for celebs, artist CEOs. I'm all
in restaurants there in Soho And if you do look
at her online, she's always drinking a big glass of
wine at some beautiful location. How can an adult have
(17:33):
that type of an imaginary life? I mean, I know
when children have an imaginary friend, there's all sorts of
psychological reasons for that, maybe just security, But an adult,
certainly people can have these types of imaginary lives and
they're going to recruit other people just because of the
chronological age does not make a person have the maturation
(17:55):
that they should have. And then that can be from
a lot of different things, but certainly, as much as
she can get other people to buy into this, then
that's because she's going to continue and she's going to
expand that imaginary life, and people can be very charming,
They can be very off putting. Excuse me, they can
be very charming, and they can be very persuasive, and
(18:15):
they can get other people to buy in. There are
people that can go into banks and they can fake
a story, and they can get people to believe that
it happens every day. And this is a person who
can do that. And the imaginary fast parts of this.
I mean, I wouldn't. I haven't examined her, so I
can't go so far as to say she's delusional or
anything like that, but clearly she has the ability, maybe
(18:37):
a pathological type of charm. Some people can do that.
And also you have to remember other people are buying
into this because the banks aren't changing credentials properly, friends
aren't following enough to see if she knows other people
in the circle. So it's it's even more. It's even
larger than just about her prime stories with Nancy Grace.
(19:12):
The trial has begun in the case of the woman
who led people to believe she was a German heiress
named Anna Delvi. Twenty eight year old Anna Sorkin is
set to stand trial Wednesday on charges of grand larceny
and theft of services after allegedly swindling two hundred and
seventy five thousand dollars over the course of ten months,
according to the Manhattan District Attorney's Office. Sarokin is also
(19:33):
accused of living in New York City hotel rooms she
could not pay for, attempting to secure a twenty two
million dollar loan to build a private arts club using
false bank statements purporting that she had millions of dollars overseas,
as well as leaving a friend with a sixty two
thousand dollars bill for a trip to Morocco she allegedly
promised to pay for. Prosecutor Catherine McCaw says the defendant
(19:53):
has not a sent to her name as far as
we can determine, also noting that Sarokin is Russian born,
not German, and though she could be deported to Germany
no matter how the trial turns out, as she's reportedly
overstayed her visa under the name Anna Delvi, she arrived
in New York with a high priced wardrobe and was
known for handing out one hundred dollars cash tips, reportedly
saying at different points that her father was a diplomat,
(20:16):
an oil baron, or involved in the solar panel business,
none of which are the case. People who knew her
said she often asked others to use their credit cards
to cover cab and plane fares and then failing to
repay them. Our friend Michael Cissack at time at Magazine Online, Yeah,
there was one story that came out at trial how
she hired a PR firm to organize her birthday party
(20:37):
in Soho. It emerged she never paid the bill. During
her stay at eleven Howard, she struck up a friend
there in addition to the concierge is to and ask
for the recommendations for the very very very best food
in Soho. We also learned that on one occasion she
(21:00):
invited friends to dinner at Soho St and Bro and
the friend ended up paying a whopper massive bill when
Sarokan's twelve credit cards were all declined, but Sarakan paid
her back triple the amount the following day in cash.
(21:21):
We also learned that she would go to unique treatments
like infrared saunas in the East Village, go out to
dinner after celebrity training sessions with Casey Duke which Sarakan
also paid for John Lemley. How did she get money
(21:43):
from one bank to get a loan from another bank?
How did that works? It's a very interesting line to follow.
How she did this. She would go to a bank
and ask for a certain line of credit based on
one a lot of times just a promise of the
(22:03):
fact that she had millions overseas that she could repay
the loan, and she would go from one bank with
that money to another bank and get an even larger
In fact, here's an example. She talked to a to
an executive with City National Bank into giving her a
(22:26):
line of credit on her account for one hundred thousand dollars,
promising to repay it with a wire transfer from a
European account. She'd used that money in a failed attempt
to secure a twenty five million dollar loan from Fortress
Investment Group, and one of the managing directors at Fortress
(22:48):
has said that she ran into problems providing details about
the origin of her wealth. Someone actually thought to ask
about that. You know, her lies became more and more spectacular.
Wendy Patrick, California Prosecutor. In fact, she even managed to
charter a private plane on one occasion with absolutely zero money. Wendy,
(23:08):
how do you do that? Yeah? The level of sophistication Nancy,
as John was explaining and as we know now looking back,
was absolutely stunning. It was almost as if she was
daring authorities to catch her in this escalating scheme of sophistication.
And you know, the answer to how you do that
is the same way we commit we see people committing
other crimes. Is sometimes people are so trusting because image matters.
(23:32):
You know, This is something I talk about in my book.
We tend to attribute all these positive qualities to somebody
who comes across as believable, whether they're pretty, or that
we like what they say, or were enamored with their
acts and or their clothes. All the types of things
that Anna used to get ahead can fool other people
into letting them acquire the kind of wealth and as
you point out, tangible benefits that this young lady did.
(23:54):
It's amazing to me that Hollywood is scrambling right now
to try to get the rights to her story. This
is her disowner and say she borrowed money from them.
Two school friends back in Russia and Germany reveal she
was nicknamed Barbie and her favorite movie was Mean Girls.
Talk about Red Flags, John Leman, tell me about the
(24:16):
lux treatment she got in Morocco where she ended up
stiffing her friend with the bill. Well, when they went
to Marrakesh, she went with a friend and she had
offered to pay for everything. Now her friend actually offered
to help pay, but she said, no, no, no, you
work hard for your money, harder for your money than
(24:38):
I do. This is my treat. And they would go
out for a round of drinks and oops, she forgot
her credit cards. So she would ask, you know, very quietly,
if the friend could, you know, just cover this one check.
And that would happen over and over and over again.
And this friend, in the end ended up covering the
(25:01):
sixty two thousand dollars cost of the flights, dining, shopping,
and the stay at a hotel where they had a
private villa with a courtyard, a pool, and a butler,
all the extravagance that you might say was fit for,
say a Kardashian, a sixty two thousand dollar vacation that
(25:23):
is more than most people make an entire year. While
in Marrakesh, Morocco, Sorokan aka Delvy took part in all
the activities the hotel had to offer. For instance, they
took private tennis lessons. They ate breakfast pool side. A
(25:43):
butler would deliver them fresh watermelons and bottles of rose.
They roamed the gardens, relaxed, swam and the villa's private pool,
took a tour of the wine cellar, ate dinner with
live Moroccan music, before capping off their nights with cocktails
(26:08):
at the Churchill Bar. I mean, this is a trip
that most people only dream of, you know, Wendy Patrick.
Don't laugh. But a couple of weekends ago, we really
lived it up. I took the children camping, we went fishing.
We built fires with our own hands, of course, and
(26:28):
I did not use light or fluid this time after
my disastrous RV trip. Okay from twigs that we picked
up and gathered wood and built fires. Yes, I can
build a fire two nights in a row. And had
hot dogs. I don't mean gourmet hot dogs. I mean
(26:50):
the pink kind that you're not really sure what they are.
They're long and skinny and slimy at the grocery store.
And then we made some moores. And can I tell
you it was one of the happiest weekends of my
whole life. The twins are still talking about it, and
then I'm looking at this girl and I feel blessed
(27:12):
of gotten to do that. Believe me, I'm not complaining.
I'm I'm I'm counting my blessings. But i mean, really
fresh watermelon and rose poolside in Marrakesh, and it's all
a big money grab. I mean, my stomach is just
hurting because I'm thinking about my dad, who would go
to work on the railroad when even when he had
chest pains, and when I would wake up in the
(27:34):
morning at seven o'clock, my mom was already gone to
work at a canning company, and there would be three
bowls of grits and three little cups of coffee half milk,
half coffee sitting there for us because she'd be long
gone to work. And now here's miss thing having a
(27:55):
nearly seventy thousand dollars vacation built on crime. Yeah, you know, Nancy,
one of the things your camping story illustrates is that
the best things in life are free, and everybody knows that.
So when you look at a story like this, part
of I think the offense that everyone is taking is
to use crime and criminal activity to build a fake
(28:17):
world where people pay the kind of money that most
of us would never do even if we had it.
When you talk about the value of hard work the
way we were all raised, it sounds like those she
surrounded herself were really taken with the fact that someone
they believed was as rich and famous as she was
would be interested in them. That is a basic human need. Ironically,
(28:38):
that was being satisfied through crime and through, as you
pointed out earlier, having this imaginary friend that's larger than life.
That's how she built this criminal umpire crime stories with
(29:01):
Nancy Grace her true history. I'm talking about Anna Sirokan
aka Anna Delvi. You know, I don't know about you,
Jeff Cortez, a FBI special agent, but I loved it
when I would. Of course, the prosecutor gets in front
of an entire jury panel and reads the indictment before
(29:21):
you begin jury selection, so everybody knows who's charged with
what and what all the counts are. And I would
love it to say State versus Jeff Cortize aka Charlie
Tuna aka the Hammer aka Blah blah blah, and so
forth and so on. I would love reading out ten
(29:44):
or twelve aliases, and by the time you're done reading that,
the jury just looks at the person because you're so
You're you're guilty. You're guilty. Why are you? Why do
you have twelve aliases? And this girl, I'm telling you,
not only had eliases, but she had fake assistance. She
lied about her mom and dad who they really are.
(30:06):
The reality is that her father was a truck driver
and he went on to work at or start a
heating and air conditioned business. The friends in school called
her Barbie and her favorite movie was Mean Girls. And
(30:28):
I don't think that's any of that is good. Okay,
that means nothing good, Jeff Cartize, no hit on the head.
You know, the minute individuals start layering themselves with aliases
and aka's, you know, they're they're putting up walls and
barriers that that any jury is going to be able
to see through. You know, she really executed a well
(30:51):
thought out plan against the banks, using multiple techniques and
methods to siphon money from them. Uh, you know, from
from top to bottom. She exploited what people want to
see and exploited the type of lifestyle that people want
to have to the extent that, you know, if I
was going to run an undercover I would I would
(31:12):
have done many of the techniques that that she did
in order to manipulate my audience. Well, another aspect to this,
John Lumley, is I remember one day when John David
came running home and so and So's mom is so cool.
She works for Chick fil A and she gets free
(31:32):
T shirts and she gets this, and she gets that.
I think the lady who's very lovely was in marketing
or pr and would bring home, you know, like a
T shirt or a moocau or whatever they had. And
I thought briefly of creating a different persona to try
to impress John David's friends, who were then four years old. Okay,
(31:58):
but I just decided, no, I'm just gonna with the truth,
you know, let the chips fall where they may. But
John Lemley, I mean, that would hurt me if I
found out the twins were lying about their mom and dad,
that what we are isn't good enough to fit in
to their self image they're projecting, that would really hurt
(32:21):
my feelers. And that's exactly the way her parents felt
about the whole thing. They actually did help fund her
through college and as she was getting out on her own,
but there was never any sort of trust fund. She
moved to Germany in two thousand and seven, and after
she dropped out of college, she interned in public relations
(32:43):
before then moving to Paris and became an intern at
Purple Magazine. Once she arrived in New York City, she
just somehow managed to be in all the sort of
right places. And she was this German heiress, according to her,
with a father that you would think, wait a minute,
I thought she was supposed to be a Russian heiress. Well, no,
(33:07):
she was from Russia, but she told people she was
a German heiress. What's really funny, though, is that her German,
according to a lot of people, was terrible. M I
want you to take a listen to what the defense
claims in closing arguments. She had to fake it until
she could make it. Those words from the defendant's own attorney,
(33:27):
who claims she never intended to commit a crime, but
prosecutors call her fraud and a liar who would do
almost anything to prolong her life of luxury. This morning,
the fate of an alleged scam artist is now in
the hands of a jury, both sides wrapping up arguments
for a case that's drawn international outrage. The style savvy
(33:49):
defendant even turning heads in court wearing an animal print dress.
She called herself Anna Delvi, a fashionable globetrotter who prosecutors
say was pretending to be a high flying ran heiress
living a fairytale life of glitz and glam among Manhattan's elite.
That is amor, Prosecutors say, the twenty eight year old,
(34:18):
whose real name is Anna Sorkin, stole two hundred and
seventy five thousand dollars from banks, hotels, and friends, all
part of an elaborate scheme to keep up her illusion
of grander. Prosecutors also alleged Sorkin tried securing a twenty
two million dollars loan to operate a private club, claims
her lawyer denies. I do not believe she had the
(34:39):
intent to ever commit a crime. Whether she owes people money,
that's effect of life. That's that's the reality of doing
business in New York. Now facing charges of grand larceny
and theft, she could spend up to fifteen years in
prison if convicted, but officials say even if acquitted, she
will be deported to Germany. Sorkin's attorney says she got
in over her head but was just buying time until
(35:01):
she could pay everyone back. You're hearing our buddy Johnson
at GMA, at ABC pay everybody back. I saw no
signs of paying everybody back and calling this doing business.
That's certainly putting perfume on the pig. Now you know
there's a problem. Wendy Patcheck, California prosecutor and author of
red Flags. When the defense to theft and fraud is
(35:25):
fake it till you make it, okay, I would not
say that that's a valid defense and a fraud case
you're admitting you're faking it. It's probably not a good
theme for the defense one. I'm sure they're rethinking right
about now. You don't want to that's kind of playing
right into the prosecutor's case. Now what they probably were
trying to do, interestingly in trial and Nancy, you and
(35:47):
I have both seen this is really kind of painting
this vulnerability picture of the defendant to try to make
somebody feel sorry for her, that she was caught up
in this false lifestyle, felt she had to pretend she
was somebody she wasn't who can't relate to that. There's
a little bit of Anna and all of us, you know,
some of the themes we saw. What I want to
isolate what you just said. The defense argued at trial
(36:09):
as if Anna Sarrokan aka Anna Delphi was some type
of a renegade and a rebel, someone who was, you know,
making her own path in the world creatively. B As,
don't tell me there's a little bit of Anna Sarrokan
in me, because that was their defense. There's a little
(36:29):
bit of Anna and all of us. Oh no, because
she is a fraud, a thief, and she ripped people
off and they're never gonna get repaid. Wendy, right, that's
what I'm saying that. Well, that's blably why she was convicted,
because these defenses are just not realistic to jurors, to
hard working jurors that go on camping trips like you did,
(36:51):
and Jess cannot relate to the fact that we are
anything like this picture of Anna. Nonetheless, we have seen
this defense time and again and thankfully it is not successful.
You know. And speaking of mellow camping trip, God willing
I get to go one another one take a listen
to this. The courtroom drama played out late into the evening.
(37:12):
At one point the jury appeared deadlock, the defense asking
for a mistrial, but then the verdict, jurors agreeing with
the prosecution that Anna Saurakin built her fairytale life on
a foundation of theft and lies. Overnight, a New York
City jury finding socialite Annasaurkan, a so called SOHO grifter,
guilty on eight counts, including grand larceny, attempted grand larceny,
(37:36):
and theft of services. Prosecutors arguing the twenty eight year
old stole a quarter of a million dollars from banks, hotels,
and friends to fund a lavish lifestyle. The jurors obviously
believed our point of view and followed our logic and
acquitted her for the top charges. I'm sad and that
she was convicted of some of the other charges. Prosecutors
say the Russian born Sorokin, who called herself Anna Delvi,
(37:59):
was pretending to be a high flying German heiress living
a life of glamor among Manhattan's elite. Authorities say she
even forged financial documents hoping to get a twenty two
million dollar loan to open a private club in the
Big Apple. While she was turned down, she did convince
one bank to loan her one hundred thousand dollars, which
she never paid back or lawyer saying she meant to
(38:21):
but had gotten in over her head and was just
buying time. Well, I guarantee you she's not getting breakfast
in bad fresh watermelon and rose A Rikers Nancy Grace
crime Story signing off Goodbye friend.
Host
Nancy Grace
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