Fake heiress Anna Sorokin makes new bid to fight deportation

Anna Sorokin waits as the jury deliberates in her trial at New York State Supreme Court. Photo / AP

Anna Sorokin, the convicted swindler who claimed to be a German heiress to finance a posh lifestyle in New York, is making a new bid to fight deportation, a lawyer said Tuesday.

Sorokin, whose scheme inspired the recent Netflix series Inventing Anna, was taken into US Customs and Immigration Enforcement custody nearly a year ago. She remained jailed in New York's Hudson Valley on Tuesday, attorney Manny Arora said.

He said she filed papers Monday seeking to hold off being ejected from the country.

ICE on Tuesday said only that she remains in the agency's custody.

Sorokin, who was convicted in 2019 and spent more than three years behind bars, has since been challenging deportation. An appellate immigration judge last month declined to stop the 31-year-old German citizen from being removed.

Using the name Anna Delvey, Sorokin manoeuvred her way into elite New York social circles by passing herself off as a socialite with a US$67 million fortune overseas, according to prosecutors. She falsely claimed to be the daughter of a diplomat or an oil baron.

Prosecutors said Sorokin falsified records and lied to get banks to lend, luxury hotels to let her stay and well-heeled Manhattanites to cover plane tickets and other expenses for her, stealing US$275,000 in all.

Her trial lawyer cast her as an ambitious entrepreneur who got in over her head financially and was simply buying time to pay her debts.

- AP