Did Anna Delvey go to jail?

In 2018, the world was introduced to Anna Delvey thanks to a New York Magazine article written by Jessica Pressler. Entitled “Maybe She Had So Much Money She Just Lost Track of It,” the profile explored Delvey’s rise to the top.

Born Anna Sorokin, the up-and-comer in the New York social scene convinced an entire city that she was, in fact, a German heiress. The reality was quite different. She befriended the Manhattan elite, getting them to throw in cash for expensive trips and even investment opportunities while she stayed at the fanciest hotels — and never paid the bill. She became a source of fascination, mostly because many couldn’t help but think that she was committing victimless crimes.

It is hard to feel bad for someone taking from the rich, many of whom wouldn’t be worse for wear. Delvey is almost an American hero — if it weren’t for the fact that she is originally from Russia. Delvey, of course, was found out, and her so-called friends all turned against her. There’s no such thing as friendship when there are millions of dollars at stake. Delvey was found out as a fraud which, as it turns out, is a convictable offense.

Was Anna Delvey sentenced to prison?

After stealing around $200,000 from the wealthy, Delvey’s crimes caught up with her. The con artist faced four to 12 years in prison for grand larceny, among other theft charges. But her stint in prison was not the end of her story. She would eventually only serve two years of her sentence, all the while getting caught up in ICE custody for overstaying her visa. In her own words, Delvey wrote via Business Insider that her visa issues weren’t any fault of hers. And to add salt to the wound, she contracted COVID-19 and claims that she was denied a booster to fight the illness.

In the meantime, interest in Delvey only increased. With a finger on the pulse of what everyone is interested in, Netflix released a miniseries entitled “Inventing Anna” under the Shonda Rhimes umbrella. Multi-Emmy-winning actor Julia Garner played the lead role with an Eastern European accent and all. Anna Chlumsky was a fictionalized version of Pressler, who follows Delvey’s case with interest. Fraudsters always seem to grab the attention of the zeitgeist, and Delvey has the most crossover appeal. Not only did she succeed in many of her endeavors for quite some time, but in an Eat the Rich society, her victims didn’t earn a lot of sympathy.

Delvey has currently been released from custody, and is now on house arrest. Though she has been compelled to wear an ankle monitor, it hasn’t stopped her from participating in one of the strangest post-prison job opportunities: Dancing With the Stars. Delvey will be a contestant on season 33, ankle monitor and all. Perhaps this business decision makes sense from Delvey’s perspective, but seeing the woman who swindled New York society on a highly popular reality show only a few years after her arrest is a little jarring. For Delvey, prison is already far in the rearview mirror.