The convicted con artist Anna Sorokin, who pretended to be a German heiress and defrauded rich New Yorkers, has been released from prison but is forbidden from using social media, according to her lawyer.
The 31-year-old has been detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) since March 2021. She also went by the name Anna Delvey and is the subject of the Netflix documentary Inventing Anna.
As she battles her deportation, US immigration judge Charles Conroy earlier this week approved her release from detention to house confinement.
Sorokin was ordered to post a $10,000 (£8,900) bail bond, reveal the address of her primary residence, where she will stay while her immigration case is pending, and desist from using social media.
John Sandweg, her immigration lawyer, verified that she was being moved from the Orange County Correctional Facility in upstate New York to downtown Manhattan and that the procedure for her release had started.
“She is almost ready to be discharged,” She is still undergoing the last round of processing, according to Sandweg. She is no longer being held in the jail.
After serving more than three years in prison for defrauding banks, hotels, and friends to fund an opulent lifestyle, she was allowed to stay with ICE.
According to immigration authorities, Sorokin must be sent back to Germany because she overstayed her visa.
The “SoHo grifter” and would-be art collector Sorokin was found guilty of multiple charges of larceny and theft in 2019.
Sorokin wanted to “live the fantasy of an expensive lifestyle beyond her means,” according to the prosecution.
Judge Diane Kiesel stated during the sentence process that she was “stunned at the complexity of the defendant’s dishonesty, her labyrinthine lies that kept her con afloat.”
In February 2021, she was released on good behavior after receiving a sentence of four to twelve years in prison, which included credit for more than 500 days of time served while her case was ongoing.
A few weeks later, Sorokin was taken into custody by immigration authorities.
She allegedly tricked her way into affluent New York social circles by posing as a socialite with a $67 million (£59 million) wealth abroad, according to the prosecution.
She made up a line about being an oil baron’s or diplomat’s daughter. According to reports, her father actually owns a heating and conditioning company.
In order to obtain loans from banks, accommodations at five-star hotels, and financial support from wealthy Manhattanites to pay for her travel and other expenses, according to the prosecution, Sorokin fabricated records and told lies. She allegedly stole a total of $275,000 (£245,000).
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