Anna Sorokin seeks to avoid deportation

NEW YORK (AP) — Anna Sorokin, the scammer who claimed to be a German heiress to fund an extravagant lifestyle in New York, is making a new effort not to be deported, her lawyer said Tuesday.

Sorokin, whose scheme inspired the recent Netflix series “Inventing Anna”, was taken into custody by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) almost a year ago. She remains incarcerated in New York State, said her lawyer Manny Arora.

Sorokin was found guilty in 2019 and spent more than two years in prison. Since then he has been appealing his deportation. Last month, an immigration judge refused to prevent the 31-year-old German citizen from being deported.

Using the name Ana Delvey, Sorokin mingled into the elite of New York City posing as an heiress with a fortune of 67 million dollars (61 million euros) abroad, according to the prosecution. He falsely said she was the daughter of a diplomat or an oil tycoon.

Prosecutors said Sorokin forged documents and lied to banks to get loans, luxury hotels to stay in rooms, and tricked wealthy New Yorkers into covering the cost of airline tickets and other expenses for her, $275,000 in total.

Her lawyer at the trial presented her as an ambitious businesswoman who got into financial trouble and was simply looking for time to pay off her debts.