PHOTOGRAPHS: BFA IMAGES; COURTESY RACHEL DELOACHE WILLIAMSTHE BEST VILLAINS ARE THE
ones you can’t help liking despite
their malevolence. That was Anna’s
power. I liked her so much that it
took me a long time to realise my dear
friend was a con artist.
New York attracts such a wild
range of people: artists and bankers,
immigrants and transients, old
money and new. And Anna was a
character. From the get-go, there was
something about her that demanded
attention, an enigmatic otherness
that was captivating. I met her oneThat evening, Anna was attentive,
engaged and generous, ordering Grey
Goose and picking up the tab. As the
months went on, she was in touch
with me independently from the
rest of the group. I was flattered she
had singled me out, and we started
getting together on occasion, just the
two of us. That’s when our friend-
ship began to solidify. She had a
comical overconfidence that I found
equal parts abhorrent and entertain-
ing. I watched as Anna romped
around with the demeanour of a
spoiled, seldom-disciplined child. She
wanted to try everything: cryothera-
py, microcurrent facials, beauty-
boosting IV drips, and on and on.
She ate at the best restaurants, flew
by private jet, lived in luxury hotels.
Later, as her lies began to unravel,
I would learn about the real Anna.
According to one Russian newspa-
per, her birth name was Anna
Vadimovna Sorokina. She was born
in Domodedovo, a town about 20
miles south of Moscow. Her father
had worked as a truck driver, and
selling air conditioners. Her mother
had once owned a store, but afterthe birth of Anna’s younger brother
she had become a housewife. Anna’s
family left Russia for Germany in
2007, when she was 16, and moved
to a small town 40 miles west of
Cologne. A classmate remembered
that Anna’s favourite movie was
Mean Girls. She said she identified
with the film’s cruel but ‘popular’
lead characters. It was a character
that, to my disadvantage, I would
come to recognise in New York.
A little over a year into our friend-
ship, Anna had stung me with a
$62,000 debt. We had been on
holiday together in Morocco with a
couple of others, on an all-expenses-
paid trip to shoot footage of Anna as
a trial run, ahead of a documentary
she was considering about an idea
she had: the Anna Delvey Founda-
tion, a visual-arts centre.
We stayed at a luxurious private
riad in Marrakesh and when the bill
came, Anna’s card was declined. She
said there was a glitch with her bank
and convinced me to foot a huge
charge on my work credit card – as a
temporary measure, she assured me.
Back in New York, the weeks turnedTatler September 2019 tatler.comMilliondollar babyAnna Delvey was the toast of New York – until the con
went sour. Former friend Rachel DeLoache Williams
tells a tale of flattery, lies and the ‘fake heiress’evening when I was out with friends,
in February 2016. She was a friend
of a friend, joining on a night out.
She turned up in a clingy black dress
and black Gucci sandals and slid into
the banquette. A cherubic face with
oversize blue eyes and pouty lips.
Details varied from person to per-
son, but the central story was always
the same: she was Anna Delvey, an
ambitious German heiress with an
interest in art and business. She
would refer vaguely to a family trust.
I assumed she was a socialite.09-19-BYST-AnnaHeiress.indd 66 03/07/2019 09:12
54