Inventing Anna appeared on Netflix on February 11, 2022. Its premiere reignited talks about New York’s most prominent faux-socialite Anna Delvey (whose actual name is Anna Sorokin). Her story dates back to 2017, about 5 years ago. Anna is famous for scamming some of the city’s elite, landing her 4-12 years in prison for grand larceny and theft of services. She was released early on parole in February of 2021 and is now detained in an I.C.E. facility for immigration-related offenses. Prior to her conviction, Anna’s dream had been to open an art foundation—an exclusive SoHo house-like art club on Fifth Avenue. However, her lack of money made achieving this difficult. To get around this, Anna used her charm and connections to convince investors that she had a multi-million dollar trust fund and that she was good for the money. However, this slowly unraveled when she was unable to provide proof of funds. More devastatingly, Anna scammed her friends as well, skipping out on dinner bills and allowing her friend to buy a room in one of Morocco’s most expensive hotels under the false premise that she would pay them back.
So why did Anna do this? Fame. It was not about the money. Anna wanted her name to be known and influence the richest people in the world. She wanted them to think of her as an equal—just as business savvy and smart as they were. Friendship was also a motive. Anna gained the friendship of a hotel worker, a Vanity Fair writer, and a trainer/life coach. She would often treat them to dinner, manicures, training sessions, and yes…a vacation. While it is reasonable to question if these big names were friends with her for her money, that was not important to Anna. She just wanted someone to share her time and “wealth” with.
There is a part of Anna in every American, especially in American college seniors. This may be a very specific demographic, but college seniors are in a very special position that many people cannot relate to. On the verge of release into a greedy and threatening world at a time when they do not know much, they are told that now is the time to be an adult and face real life, rent an apartment, pay bills, and go to work. Most of the time they are given very little guidance on how to do so. All they want is success, friendship, and maybe love. Just like Anna did. Although upon first glance some may find it hard to understand her motives (not many people go to the extremes she did), every 20-something has felt similarly. Being released into the world with a laundry list of goals but no blueprint is a tough situation.
All of this is not to excuse what Anna did. She was charged for a reason, and her white privilege is evident seeing as she spent less than half of her sentence in prison, evaded many of the charges brought against her, and was able to scam banks into giving her loans she was unqualified for. She is guilty. But aside from her criminality, we can learn something from her. We can learn to check our greed and to treat the people we love with respect. We can learn to actually work hard for what we want rather than through scams. Anna is an example of what a college senior should not do when they are released into the world without any direction or support. Hopefully, everyone learns a lesson from Anna’s actions.
Sources
https://www.thecut.com/article/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.htmlhttps://www.nbcnewyork.com/entertainment/entertainment-news/where-is-anna-delvey-now-heres-an-update-on-the-inventing-anna-subject/3561295/#:~:text=Anna%20Sorokin%20was%20sentenced%20to,four%20counts%20of%20theft%20services.