Anna Delvey pens angry essay slamming Netflix show from jail

Russian-born German scamster Anna Sorokin has penned an essay from her jail cell in upstate New York slamming the Netflix show based on her exploits.

Sorokin, known as Anna Delvey to the high society set, had scammed banks, hotels and rich acquaintances out of hundreds of thousands of dollars by pretending to be an heiress.

The essay, which was published by Insider on Wednesday, has hit out at the nine-episode limited series that is set to premiere on 11 February.

In the essay, Sorokin said she felt “like an afterthought” and that she was not interested in watching the series “even if I were to pull some strings to make it happen”.

“It doesn’t look like I’ll be watching ‘Inventing Anna’ anytime soon,” she wrote in the essay.

“Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalised version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me.”

Sorokin, however, said she was “curious” to see how the research and materials she provided helped in the interpretation of her character in the series.

“While I’m curious to see how they interpreted all the research and materials provided, I can’t help but feel like an afterthought, the sombre irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself.”

The Netflix series is created by Shonda Rhimes and is based on a long 2019 profile by journalist Jessica Pressler published in New York Magazine.

“It doesn’t look like I’ll be watching ‘Inventing Anna’ anytime soon. Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen,” she said.

Sorokin, in the essay, also wrote about her experience in prison and getting Covid-19 there.

Sorokin was arrested in 2017. She spent about two years in jail on Rikers Island before her jury conviction.

She served another two years at the Albion Correctional Facility in upstate New York until her release in February last year. Six weeks later, however, she was arrested again by the Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying her visa.

In the essay detailing her life in the jail, Ms Delvey wrote: “​​I still remember the night of ABC’s ‘20/20’ episode about me in October. It was also unfortunately the night when the meds come really late, so everyone was up waiting and watched it.”

She added: “It’s hard to explain what I hate about it. I just don’t want to be trapped with these people dissecting my character, even though no one ever says anything bad. If anything, everyone’s really encouraging, but in this cheap way and for all the wrong reasons. Like, they love all the clothes and boats and cash tips. I saw only the first couple minutes before I went back into my cell.”

“I was definitely not going to sit there and watch it with everybody. And I don’t need any more jail friends, thank you very much.”

She said in the essay that she “was hoping that by the time ‘Inventing Anna’ came out, I would’ve moved on with my life. I imagined for the show to be a conclusion of sorts summing up and closing of a long chapter that had come to an end”.