＂I’d rather go to jail until I die than be regarded as a superficial socialite.＂

The original Tu Simin Fiona Fang was included in the collection # 23 extraterritorial rule of law events # 1 five-star hotel # 1 Howard # 1 new york # 2 USA.

The stills of the series Fictional Anna adapted by Netflix from Anna Sorokin’s story. (Source: Douban)

Neve, the front desk of Howard 11 Hotel, a five-star hotel in new york, has met many rich people and has long been accustomed to their spending money. However, when a young girl gently left a tip of $100 on the marble table and gave such generous tips to the front desk, greeters and waiters of the hotel, Neve knew that "this girl is different".

This girl is Anna Delvi, who claims to be the heir of the Delvi family of German aristocrats. Her dream is to set up an art foundation named after her, namely "Anna Delvi Art Foundation". Anna also said that her father wanted her to be self-reliant, so he set up a trust fund of up to 60 million euros in her name. As long as she is 26 years old, she can inherit the money.

Opening Anna’s social platform account, her life seems to be no different from those rich second-generation celebrities: she goes to five-star hotels every day, eats $2,000 for a meal, ranks among the upper-class social circles in new york, sits with stars and singers who can only be seen in movies, and attends Buffett’s private banquet …

It was not until April 23, 2019 that Anna was sentenced to four to twelve years’ imprisonment by a court in new york for defrauding hotels, restaurants, banks and private jet companies for a total of US$ 213,000 that the upper-class social circle in new york suddenly realized that this "German princess" Anna was fake.

So, who is Anna Delvi? How on earth did she do all this?

one

Carefully operate the image of social platform

Anna comes from an ordinary working family in Russia. Her father is a truck driver and her mother is a housewife. Anna Delvi is her invented name, and Anna Sorokin is her real name.

Anna showed great desire for success as early as when she was a student. Love fashion, she applied to a top art college in Britain-Central St Martin’s College in London. But within a few days, she dropped out of school and went to Paris, and got an internship in the famous fashion magazine Purple.

At that time, Anna knew that fashion circle was the fastest way to enter the upper class. Therefore, during the internship, she appeared in almost every party that can be named, took photos with a group of big coffees, and then uploaded the photos to her carefully operated social account to establish her own contacts.

In 2014, Anna went to new york, and quickly took root in new york by using her personal contacts accumulated during her internship in Purple magazine.

In order to show her good taste, Anna deliberately spoke to rich people in a critical and mean tone in the art gallery. This impressed her deeply, thinking that she has a sharp taste and is a person who really understands art.

At the same time, Anna attaches great importance to her image on social platforms, not only uploading photos with celebrities, but also publishing some paintings at the Venice Biennale or Art Basel. These measures also make many people feel that Anna is an active promoter in the art world.

In order to create her image as a descendant of German aristocrats, Anna began to spend money everywhere-staying in a superior suite in a superior hotel for a long time, tipping the service staff $100 generously, and even buying a full set of fitness courses with $4,500 in cash after listening to a class.

People with a heart will find that all Anna’s life is carried out in the hotel, whether she goes to a restaurant to eat, does high-temperature yoga or does daily shopping. This is because only high-end five-star hotels allow her to attach all the bills to the room rate, and once she leaves the hotel, Anna can’t pay a penny.

When checking out, Anna will provide several credit cards that can’t be used normally, and after they can’t be swiped, she will continue to credit on the grounds of "there is something wrong with your system" or "European bank cards are sometimes not universal". If there are people in the same trade, she will also use this excuse to let her friends make advances for her, but after that, the repayment will never be seen again.

2

"Anna knows the language of finance."

Unlike many emotional fraudsters, Anna’s fake identity does not depend on color. And what she wants is not just famous brands and money, but to build a high-end and luxurious art club, namely Anna Delvi Art Foundation, in a historic landmark building with an area of 4,200 square meters and a height of 6 floors at the intersection of Park Avenue and 22nd Street in Manhattan.

Anna wants this place to be the pinnacle of the global art and cultural circles, and a safe haven for business giants and global rich people to stay away from the disturbing world.

At first, Anna’s foundation project was considered a fantasy. As Anna revitalized her social circle step by step through various channels, she began to be introduced to the top chefs, architects, designers and art investors in new york, and her social circle expanded from celebrities to business elites. Everyone who has communicated with Anna is convinced that "her rich fortune in Germany will fund her plan".

However, to really build such a luxurious art club, it is not feasible to rely on some simple tricks. According to a preliminary estimate, it takes 22 million dollars of real money to build such a club. From this, Anna thought of applying for a loan.

It is not easy to apply for a loan of $22 million. Anna needs professional help. She found Lance who works in Gibson-Dunn Law Firm. At first, Lance was indifferent to Anna and her $60 million trust fund in a Swiss bank. But Anna didn’t give up. She studied financial knowledge desperately and drew up an 80-page professional business plan. This made Lance sit up and take notice of Anna and began to work for Anna.

In the loan application stage, Anna is also working step by step, constantly forging various bank running water and international account fund certificates to cope with the investigation.

In 2016, National City Bank refused to provide loans to Anna. Later, Lance helped her to contact Fengbao Investment Group. Fengbao Company agreed, provided that Anna needs to pay $100,000 in advance for the previous background check.

So Anna persuaded a representative of National City Bank to overdraw her account with a loan of $100,000 to pay for the expenses. The representative said in an interview later: "Anna knows the language of the financial world well."

Just when Anna thought that her plan would finally come true, the investment consultant of Fengbao told her that they would send representatives to Swiss banks to inspect Anna’s assets on the spot. Before things got out of hand, Anna told Fengbao that her father didn’t like the individual terms of the loan project and wanted to quit early.

Fengbao Company agreed to Anna’s request and returned the balance of about $55,000 after deducting the investigation fee to her, and all the money was used by her to pay for her glamorous life.

three

The epitome of American social problems

In fact, Anna’s deception didn’t last long. Howard Hotel No.11 repeatedly encountered Anna’s credit card problems and found that she could not pay the bill of $30,000, so she was swept out of the house.

On another occasion, after a short stay at Thompson Hotel in beekman for 20 days, Anna was locked out because she couldn’t pay the room rate of $10,000, and all her luggage was confiscated. After that, Anna had to wear her sports suit and wander the streets of new york like a fashionable tramp.

There are many similar situations, which gradually make Anna’s friends suspicious. In 2017, while anxiously waiting for the bank grant, Anna decided to take a luxury trip to Morocco with three close friends. Although Anna proposed the trip and said that "all expenses are on me", she still used the old trick to get her friend Williams to pay the bill of about 62 thousand dollars. Williams reported the case to the police after repeatedly urging him to pay back the money.

On October 3, 2017, Anna was arrested by the Los Angeles police. On April 23, 2019, Anna was convicted of eight charges, including three counts of second-degree grand theft, four counts of theft of services and one count of attempted first-degree grand theft.

Anna Sorokin was at the trial. (Source: Douban)

What exactly does Anna want? In the eyes of those who have contacted Anna, she is ambitious and has all the determination, ability, action and judgment needed to become an entrepreneur, and the only thing she lacks is the stepping stone to the upper class-a real rich father.

Anna once said: "I would rather sit in jail until I die than be regarded as a superficial celebrity, and I don’t want to be regarded as an unsuccessful entrepreneur." If I just want money, I have a better and faster way to get it. In this world, capital like money is infinite, but talented people are limited. "

In an interview with Jessica, a reporter from new york Magazine, for several months, we saw that everyone who came into contact with Anna had a completely different description of her. Anna is like a kaleidoscope. Everyone wants something from her, and everyone reflects their own desires from her. As Jessica said at the end of the report, "Anna saw something that others didn’t see. She saw new york’s soul."

Some people say that Anna is the epitome of all social problems in the United States, and she is not even an American. Some interviewees also said: "Anna really has taste. She knows what dishes to order in a high-end restaurant and what dishes should go with what year of red wine."

It seems that a person can easily pretend to be a non-existent person as long as he freely adapts to a world piled up with fancy clothes, luxury cars and art investment products.

Anna’s story also tore open the tip of the iceberg of class injustice in the United States: Nora, who was stolen by Anna for $400,000, can get the money back just because Nora has a best friend who is the president of a bank. Williams, a journalist who paid for Anna’s trip to Morocco, lost everything: he lost his job, his life was overwhelmed by the bills he owed, and he could not even pay the basic utilities.

In July 2019, Netflix bought the adaptation right of Anna’s fraud story for $330,000, and produced the TV series "Fictional Anna". Anna used the money to pay off all her debts.

On February 11th, 2021, Anna was released from prison for good behavior. At the age of 32, she is waiting for the fate of being sent back to Germany at the new york Immigration Center because her passport has expired. On March 18th this year, Anna expressed her remorse in a public video interview. She said: "No matter how much money it costs, going to prison is not worth it. I think I deserve a second chance, and I want to continue my life. I won’t do anything illegal anymore. " (This article has been deleted. For more details, please pay attention to the next issue of Fiona Fang in May.)

This article is the original manuscript of Fiona Fang magazine. Please indicate the author in an eye-catching position when reprinting, and indicate the source: Fiona Fang (ID:fangyuanmagazine).

Editor Xiao Lingyan Fang Jiajia Design Liu Yan

Trainee reporter Tu Simin

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Original title: "I would rather go to jail until I die than be regarded as a superficial celebrity" "

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