Convicted thief Anna Sorokin, whose life and crimes are the subject of the Netflix drama "Inventing Anna," was granted release from a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) facility in Orange County, New York, Bloomberg reported.
The 31-year-old, who posed as a German heiress going by the name of Anna Delvey to swindle millions from her friends and banks to support her lavish lifestyle, was arrested in March 2021 for overstaying her visa. On Wednesday, according to Bloomberg, an immigration judge ruled that she could be released from an Orange County, New York, facility while she fights deportation.
As part of her release, the outlet noted, Sorokin will be required to post $10,000 bail and remain in 24-hour home confinement with electronic monitoring.
Further, she has been banned from social media platforms. She frequently used social media to post about her supposedly glamorous lifestyle while scamming banks, hotels, and friends out of tens of thousands of dollars.
Sorokin was sentenced to four-to-12 years in prison in 2019 on convictions of grand larceny and theft of services. In February, 2021, she was released early from prison for good behavior; however, the following month was taken into custody by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying her visa, People reported.
Her lawyer, John Sandweg, a former acting ICE director, said Wednesday the judge made the right decision to grant Sorokin's release.
"She hasn't been accused of committing a crime since 2017," Sandweg said. "And the evidence clearly demonstrated that any risk she does pose can be adequately managed through supervision, electronic monitoring, parole, and the supervision of ICE."
In a controversial move, Netflix paid Sorokin about $320,000 for the rights to her life story and for consulting work for "Inventing Anna," which is produced by Shonda Rhimes and stars actress Julia Garner in the title role, according to the New York Post. Of that amount, $198,000 was paid in restitution and the rest reportedly went to Sorokin's legal fees.
"I never asked for Netflix to buy my story; it just happened," Sorokin told the BBC at the time. "And everything else, it just spun out of my control. It's not like I orchestrated anything."
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.
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