[ad_1]
Fake heiress Anna Sorokin unveiled an art exhibition featuring her hand-drawn sketches in New York City last night, despite the fraudster remaining in federal custody for overstaying her visa.
Sorokin, 31, addressed a small crowd at the city’s Public Hotel virtually on a video link from the Orange County Detention Facility in New York to unveil her art collection, which she says shows ‘her narrative from her perspective’.
The one-night-only art exhibition, titled ‘Allegedly’, features 20 sketches drawn by Sorokin in prison, with the artwork collection worth an estimated $500,000.
Sorokin, the convicted swindler who claimed to be a German heiress called ‘Anna Delvey’ to finance a posh lifestyle in New York and whose scheme was depicted in the Netflix series ‘Inventing Anna’, is in ICE custody for overstaying her visa and is awaiting deportation back to Germany.
But despite being in prison, Sorokin launched the art exhibition where models, wearing sunglasses and fishnet masks over their faces, walked around holding the fraudster’s gold framed sketches.
Sorokin, 31, addressed a small crowd at the city’s Public Hotel virtually on a video link from the Orange County Detention Facility in New York to unveil her art collection, which she says shows ‘her narrative from her perspective’
The one-night-only art exhibition, titled ‘Allegedly’, features 20 sketches drawn by Sorokin in prison, with the artworks worth an estimated $500,000
But despite being in prison, Sorokin launched the art exhibition where models, wearing sunglasses and fishnet masks over their faces, walked around holding the fraudster’s gold framed sketches
A model holds up one of Sorokin’s sketches which has been mounted in a golden frame
Appearing on a video call wearing an orange prison jumpsuit, Sorokin, according to Variety, told a crowd at the exhibition: ‘Hi everyone, Anna Delvey, here. I hope you guys are enjoying your evening so far.
‘I’m so very excited to unveil my first-ever art collection, titled ‘Allegedly’. This is a collection of sketches I’ve created while in Orange County Detention.
‘I wanted to capture some of the moments of the past years, both never-seen-before and iconic, using the limited tools I have at my disposal. Some of the pieces are straightforward, others are more abstract and will be unique in meaning and appearance.
‘I studied fashion illustration in Paris and haven’t really sketched until my trial.’
Sorokin added: ‘You’ve heard so many voices already, but this is the beginning of me telling my story, my narrative from my perspective. I hope you guys enjoy the show.’
Sorokin was previously convicted of fraud in 2019 after scamming New York socialites out of $200,000 by pretending to be a rich heiress named ‘Anna Delvey’ in a five-year scheme.
Anna Sorokin is led away after being sentenced in Manhattan Supreme Court on May 9, 2019, following her conviction on multiple counts of grand larceny and theft of services
After serving nearly four years of her four-to-12 year sentence, Sorokin was released from jail in February 2021, and went about returning to her previous life of luxury by renting a swank apartment in Chelsea.
Weeks later, after bragging in a TV interview that ‘crime pays, in a way’ she was arrested by immigration agents for allegedly overstaying her visa and has been in ICE custody at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York ever since.
Sorokin tried to apply for asylum in the United States – but her plea was denied – and she faces being deported to Germany.
Her lawyers have launched a series of appeals in an attempt to stop her from being deported.
On Thursday night, art dealer Chris Martine, who organized Sorokin’s exhibition, told Page Six: ‘It wasn’t easy getting anything in or out of ICE [Immigration and Customs Enforcement].
‘Most of the art materials and paper were declined/confiscated. The only materials we got in were some colored pencils, and 9×12 watercolor paper.. No erasers.
‘She relied heavily on her jail pens and jail pencils which are essentially dull rubber writing instruments.
‘Somehow she was able to make exceptional, heavily detailed sketches with zero indication of a single mistake or smudge. Incredibly astonishing.’
He went on: ‘The total valuation of the collection will be set in the $400-500k range.’
Anna Sorokin aka Anna Delvey launched her solo art exhibit titled, “Allegedly” at the Public Hotel in New york City on May 19, 2022
Fans take pictures of the artwork at Sorokin’s art exhibition on Thursday night
Sorokin has been held at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York since March 2021 for overstaying her visa
Martine, who represents the inmate through the advisory firm Founders Art Club, added: ‘We have received extensive interest already from art dealers, collectors and galleries.’
Before Sorokin appeared on the live-stream video, her lawyer Duncan Levin said that the fraudster’s art is ‘incredible art’, adding that ‘her talent is dripping’.
Speaking in front of a small crowd on Thursday night, Levin said of Sorokin: ‘She’s choosing to fight her deportation, she’s choosing to fight her underlying criminal conviction and she’s choosing to appeal her conviction.
‘She is going to be on momentarily, we are just having a bit of technical difficulty. Please understand it has been, not only to get this video link on but also to get this incredible art she has done here, her talent is dripping. I just want to on her behalf, thanks so much for being here.’
Levin then shouted ‘Free Anna’ a few times but was met with some cheers – with most of the room remaining silent.
Earlier on Thursday, Sorokin claimed to have founded her own law firm from her prison cell.
Despite having no legal training, and still being held at a correctional facility, Delvey announced her new law firm Delvey & Daughters – ‘Double D’ for short – in a public statement on Thursday.
The firm is payable through Dogecoin and can be reached through 1-800-BETTER-CALL-ANNA, a play on the Breaking Bad spinoff series Better Call Saul which chronicles a crooked attorney.
While Sorokins’s law firm announcement is clearly as fake as her German heiress claims, it appears to be a dig at her legal representation.
In her statement, she admits that ‘jail is not a great look for a lawyer but… it merely means I have more time to focus on solving my clients’ issues as opposed to waiting time on pointless dinners and small talk.’
On Thursday Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey,(pictured in court in 2019) announced the launch of her new law firm Delvey & Daughters, PLLC
In fact, her current attorney, Manny Arora, seemed stunned and a little frustrated by the revelation when reached by DailyMail.com.
She told us that she had not been informed of Sorokin’s apparent new career ambitions and that it was ‘impossible’ for her to found a law firm.
Delvey released the statement to Business Insider reporter Jacob Shamsian, who covered her criminal trial in 2019.
‘Today I am so very excited to launch my own legal practice: Delvey & Daughters, PLLC, or short ‘Double D’ Warning: Highly Litigious,’ she said.
‘I’m now available to litigate any dispute, no matter how big or small, a-z you name it, I got it. Full-spectrum legal coverage from someone who’s been there before.’
In her statement, Sorokin actually pointed to her criminal history as a selling point for her qualifications as an attorney.
‘Some may say that being in jail is not a great look for a lawyer but I’m once again expecting to prove my detractors terribly wrong- it merely means I have more time to focus on solving my clients’ issues as opposed to waiting time on pointless dinners and small talk the rest of the world is subjected to on (a) daily basis,’ she said.
Sorokin touted her free unlimited access to the Lexis Nexis – a database for public and legal records – at the ‘courtesy of the state of NY’ – where she is being held in prison.
She also said that anyone can pay for her services exclusively through the cryptocurrency Dogecoin.
Sorokin has been held at the Orange County Correctional Facility since March 2021 for overstaying her visa.
Sorokin was convicted in 2019 of second-degree larceny, theft of services and first-degree attempted larceny after she refused to pay at some of the city’s most expensive hotels
Sorokin grew up in a working class suburb of Moscow, the daughter of a truck driver whose mother ran a small convenience store. The family emigrated to Germany when she was 16.
She did not have a college degree or a substantial amount of wealth.
But in 2013, Sorokin traveled to New York City to attend New York Fashion Week, and ultimately stayed, pretending to be ‘Anna Delvey’ – an heiress with a $60m trust fund in Europe – as she scammed her way to expensive trips and hotel stays, ripping off her best friend along the way.
The scam has now been memorialized by the Netflix show ‘Inventing Anna,’ based on journalist Jessica Pressler’s New York magazine story, which brought her scheme to light.
She was first arrested in July 2017, A&E reports, after she skipped out on thousands of dollars in unpaid bills at two New York City hotels – the Beekman and the W New York – and dined and dashed after eating lunch at Le Parker Meridien hotel.
Sorokin was scheduled to appear in court in September that year, but never showed up.
A few months later, in October, the Manhattan District Attorney set up a sting operation with the Los Angeles Police Department and arrested her again.
According to the indictment, City National Bank allowed Sorokin to overdraft her account by $100,000.
She managed to keep $55,000 in the account but ‘frittered away these funds on personal expenses in about one month’s time’ with fancy hotel stays, high-end fashion purchases and sessions with a personal trainer.
In 2019, she was convicted of second-degree larceny, theft of services and first-degree attempted larceny.
Sorokin, however, was acquitted of the most serious charge – attempted grand larceny in the first degree, in connection with a $22 million loan she tried to obtain from City National Bank.
She was also acquitted of stealing from her friend, Rachel DeLoache Williams, who worked in the photo department of Vanity Fair magazine and was scammed out of $62,000.
The two, and a group of other friends, went on a $7,000-a-night villa trip to Morocco in 2017. Sorokin had vowed to pay for the trip, but never did.
She was acquitted, however, of stealing from her friend, Rachel DeLoache Williams (pictured), who she brought to a $7,000-a-night Morocco villa, claiming she would pay
Sorokin was sentenced to four-to-12 years behind bars and ultimately served four years at Riker’s Island – New York’s largest prison – before being released for good behavior in February 2021.
She then settled her debts and paid her state fines with the $320,000 she received for selling her life story to Netflix.
But just one month later, she was rearrested by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for overstaying her visa.
She has since been detained at the Orange County Correctional Facility, where she has complained about the conditions.
While in ICE custody, Sorokin has announced that she is suing ICE after she allegedly caught coronavirus when she was denied a booster vaccination shot.
She, along with three other detainees, filed the suit earlier this month alleging federal authorities violated their constitutional rights as ‘medically vulnerable individuals’ and engaged in ‘unlawful discrimination’ by refusing to issue the shot.
Sorokin tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-January after she made multiple requests for a booster shot and never received a response, according to the complaint obtained by DailyMail.com Thursday.
She also alleges she continues to experience lingering effects of the virus – including fatigue, coughing, brain fog and shortness of breath – and still seeks the jab ‘as she is concerned about getting sick from COVID-19 if she contracts it again’.
Sorokin is also now claiming in court documents that she is finally broke, and was granted ‘poor person’s relief’ in filing her appeal against her conviction.
Of the money she received from the lucrative Netflix deal, she repaid repaid $100,000 to City National Bank, $70,000 to Citibank, spent $75,000 on legal fees and another $24,000 on fines – leaving around $51,000 left over.
Sorokin does not appear to have paid back Blade, the air taxi service from Uber, for the $35,400 she owes to them for a charter flight from New Jersey to Omaha, Nebraska to attend the annual shareholders meeting of investment company Berkshire Hathaway.
Nor has she apparently reimbursed the $23,000 she owes to Signature Bank.
The ‘poor person’s relief’ provides her with court-issued money to cover the cost of filing her appeal and other legal fees.
[ad_2]
Source link
