A Timeline of Fake Socialite Anna Delvey's Schemes

Delvey moved to Paris where she switched out her birth surname, Sorokin, for Delvey, and pursued a degree in fashion while remaining entirely dependent on her parents. Her stints as an intern accustomed her to a glamorous life that she lacked the funds to continue. 

Following a breakup in the late summer of 2013, Delvey left Paris and made her foray into New York City. Initially intending to only stay for a short amount of time, she decided to make her stay permanent. New York is where Delvey perfected her scheme, almost. While posing as a German heiress of an unknown fortune, she frequented high-end restaurants, parties, and other networking events, leaving those she met along the way to foot the bill with the promise of paybacks that would never materialize. 

Delvey quickly became a fixture of the New York scene, going to, and, most importantly, being seen at the best parties and hosting dinners with CEOs, celebrities, and athletes while leaving a wake of cash wherever she went, always in the right place at the right time wearing hundreds of thousands of dollars in clothing and accessories at all times. The high volume of trust fund kids in New York allowed her to slip under the radar with her overly-ambiguous background as a German heiress to make friends quickly and easily. However, her habit of only using cash (and "forgetting" to pay friends back for the thousands of dollars that they fronted her) did retrospectively stand out to those that had been in her wake. 

Having infiltrated New York's wealthiest while flitting between boutique hotels, Delvey began working on what would ultimately lead to her demise—the Anna Delvey Foundation—a members-only Soho House-style club housing a juice bar, bakery, art space, studios, and different restaurants. 

All the while, she took Ubers, ate meals, and went on different trips with the friends she made, promising to pay them back at a later date. Delvey went so far as to leave a friend with a $70,000 bill for a Morrocan vacation. When her credit card declined for a $30,000 bill at one of the boutique hotels that housed her, a mysterious wire transfer was received a few days later. Declining credit cards and mysterious wire transfers followed Delvey wherever she went. 

After having floated the idea for the Anna Delvey Foundation around enough, Delvey began looking to secure the tens of millions of dollars in loans that were required. This involved defrauding financial advisors, wealth managers, accountants, and even documents in an attempt to procure a bank loan. It was at this time, the friend she left in Morocco with a $70,000 bill, turned her in. 

In October, Delvey was charged with the theft of $300,000 and attempted theft of $22 million. She was charged with 10 counts of theft, larceny, attempted theft, and attempted larceny as a result of her conning various hotels and financial institutions. 

Having been held without bail since her arrest in October, Anna was given a plea deal that she subsequently rejected. A court date is set for March 2019. 

The trial begins. Delvey showed up still attempting to stay in character as a wealthy heiress, and her professionally-styled fashion made headlines everywhere. On one of her court dates, Delvey refused to show up as she was only given her prison-issued attire.

After a two-day deliberation, on April 25, Delvey was found guilty of eight charges including grand larceny in the second degree, attempted grand larceny, and theft of services. She was found not guilty of attempted grand larceny in the first degree and larceny in the second degree. She was subsequently given four to 12 years and ordered to pay a restitution fee. 

Delvey was released from prison on parole for good behavior in February of last year. Just over a month later, she was taken back into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for overstaying her visa. She is currently sitting in a New Jersey county jail where she is expected to remain until she can be deported back to Germany. Netflix bought the rights to her life story for a little over $300,000 which she used to pay her restitution. 

On August 29, Rachel Williams, one of Delvey's friends/victims, filed a lawsuit against Netflix claiming that the show falsely portrays her as "a greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person," citing how the series depicts her character "accepting gifts of expensive clothes, jewelry and accessories" from Delvey or "allowing [Delvey] to pay for all of their drinks, meals, manicures and saunas." 

The suit also references specific scenes where Rachel leaves Delvey in Morocco, which Williams alleges is untrue, and how the show suggests that she was "lying to friends by concealing that she helped the police." In the court documents, Williams' lawyer continues, "In reality, she never did or said those things. Thus, this action is based firmly on statements of fact which are demonstrably false and the attribution of statements that she never made."