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How Anna Delvey Scammed New York Socialites Into Thinking She Was A Millionaire…

36. Realizing She Wasn’t Legit
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Young Chinese art collector Michael Xufu Huang agreed to go to the Venice Biennale with Sorokin and to put the plane tickets and hotel rooms on his credit card — but didn’t suspect anything was amiss until a restaurant called him to ask if he had Sorokin’s contact details because she’d skipped out on a bill for a big birthday bash. “Then I realized, Oh my God, she is not legit,” he told the magazine. In 2016, Sorokin began using her elite social connections to start building her planned private club — assembling a cast of unwitting helpers that included the son of famed Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, Nobu co-founder Richie Notar, and a partner at real estate law firm Gibson Dunn who attempted to find her investors, New York reports.

37. Her Victims Are Too Embarrassed To Come Forward
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She also started hanging out with “pharma bro” Martin Shkreli, who told New York — via letter from federal prison — that she seemed like “a popular ‘woman about town’ who knew everyone.” She created a fake family financial adviser named “Peter Hennecke” who promised payments in wire transfers — then killed him off when the London designer she’d hired to do the club’s branding demanded the $22,000 he was owed. But the house of cards, built on bad checks and unpaid debts, eventually fell apart as hotels went after Sorokin for her outstanding bills — and a bank she’d allegedly duped into lending her $100,000 started investigating her supposed assets. Multiple people tell New York that Sorokin’s debts may be far larger than reported — but her victims are too embarrassed to come forward.

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