Stories about scammers or con artists are both entertaining and psychologically intriguing. The audience wonders how a person can deceive so easily and why others do not see through this deception. Previous con artist stories include movies like Catch Me If You Can and The Sting.
The latest scammer themed story is Netflix’s miniseries Inventing Anna. It tells the story of Anna Sorokin, played by Julia Garner, who claimed to be a German heiress named Anna Delvey worth $60 million. Using this alias from 2013 to 2017 she conned banks, hotels and individuals out of over $200,000. The story first broke in the press in 2018. The public was captivated by Anna who became known as the “Soho Grifter”.
Serving time instead of looks…
Like most con artists or scammers, things eventually caught up with Anna. In 2019, she was found guilty on one count of attempted grand larceny, three counts of grand larceny and four counts of theft services. She received a prison sentence that was supposed to last four to twelve years. She was let out in 2021 on parole.
Short-lived freedom.
Anna’s freedom did not last long. Just six weeks after she was let out on parole, Anna was arrested again. This time she was in trouble with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement or ICE for short for overstaying her visa. She is currently still being held awaiting her appeal proceedings. She wants to stay in the United States.
NBC Interview
Anna spoke to NBC News’ Savannah Sellers about her desire to contribute to society and be known as more than a scam artist. Anna stated: “Hopefully, I’ll be given a chance to like focus all my energy into something legal. I’d love to be given an opportunity for people not to just dismiss me as like a quote-unquote scammer and just see what I’m going to do next.”
Anna also told Sellers that she has changed since committing the crimes. “I was like, 23. People should just need to think on themselves back when they were in their mid 20s.” She is now older and wiser. She goes on to say: “I would not encourage anybody else to follow my footsteps.”
Anna does stop short of offering any kind of apology. “You mean for what? I’m not a 12 year old kid to apologize. I don’t think (the banks) care.”
Anna does not view herself as a con artist or scammer. “I never really had any malicious intent. And I’m not just like this vicious like scamming person trying to like take advantage of anybody who’s just like stupid enough to fall for it.”
Art and NFTs
Anna has plans to make waves in the art world. In March of 2022, she took part in a pop-up art show titled “Free Anna Delvey.” This show featured 33 artists and their works responding to Anna’s story. Anna also had 5 of her own works in the show. Although they were reproduced by Alfred Martinez, the show’s co-curator.
In June of 2022 Anna announced a new project, a series of NFTs titled “Reinventing Anna.” These NFTs come with perks. The buyers will be given access to Anna herself. This will be accomplished through phone calls, in person meetings, and exclusive VIP livestreams. Anna is excited about this new venture. She stated: “I’m very excited to connect with everybody who has been supporting me.”
Whatever else the future holds for Anna, we know it won’t be boring and will be VIP all the way. VIP is always better.
Published: Sep 6, 2022 10:31 am