PHOTOGRAPHS: BFA IMAGES; COURTESY RACHEL DELOACHE WILLIAMS
tatler.com September 2019 55time and meeting her stare. She was
smirking, with the corners of her
mouth turned slightly upward and a
mocking look in her eye. Was she
trying to unnerve me? Her attitude
now struck me as juvenile.
My testimony and cross-exami-
nation took two days. I stayed
collected and straight-faced for a
long time, but eventually Anna’s
lawyer struck a nerve. Aware that
I had a book deal and that my story
had been optioned by HBO, he
accused me of using the trial as
content for entertainment. I felt all
of my pent-up defensiveness and
anger begin to erupt.
I spoke more firmly, no longer
able to contain my irritation. ‘I
didn’t want the trial, or my testimo-
ny, to be misconstrued as a ploy for
my own benefit, because it is not,’
I snapped. I didn’t choose this.
After I testified, there were photos
of me ugly-crying on the internet.
This was not splashy or fun, not en-
tertainment – this was me pushing a
boulder up a hill because my friend
Anna had turned out to be a con
artist and had taken advantage of
me, as well as of so many others.
The jury deliberated Anna’s guilt
for a day and a half, informing the
judge they were unable to reach a
unanimous decision. The judge
sent them back to continue deliber-
ations and two hours later they
were in agreement.
On 25 April 2019, the New York
State Supreme Court jury found
Anna Sorokin guilty of eight of the
charges against her, including one
count of attempted grand larceny in
the first degree, three counts of grand
larceny in the second degree, and
four counts of theft of services. I was
stunned the jury rejected charges re-
lating to our trip to Morocco and
the loan for the art foundation.
She was sentenced to prison for
four to 12 years – and began her sen-
tence at Bedford Hills Correctional
Facility for Women in Westchester
County, New York, on Wednesday
15 May, 2019. And me? I made my
peace and moved on. (
Extracted from My Friend Anna by
Rachel DeLoache Williams (Quercus,
£16.99), out nowALL THAT GRIFTERS
Clockwise from above, in Marrakech,
2017; the New York Post declares
Anna Sorokin’s sentence; at Paris
Fashion Week, 2013BYS TA NDE R
CULTUREto months with no sign of repay-
ment, only excuses and promises of
imminent reimbursement. My life
began to unravel. The debt was
more than my salary as a Picture
Editor at Vanity Fair. I pleaded with
her, I demanded my money. I was
by turns calm, furious and despair-
ing. It made no difference. And
Anna? She disappeared.As it turned out, I wasn’t her only
victim. When the police caught up
with her months later in October
2017, she was formally charged with
six felonies and one misdemeanour:
accused of stealing approximately
$275,000 through a variety of scams,
and of attempting to steal millions
more. There were charges of ‘cheque
kiting’, cashing bad cheques; falsify-
ing documents from international
banks – in one case to secure a $22
million loan for the creation of her
art foundation and private club. (‘We
always believed that she had money,’
a member of the bank would testify.)
I could not have known how big
a media sensation Anna would be-
come. I wrote about my experience
for Vanity Fair and the article went
viral, optioned by HBO for a poten-
tial film or television adaptation. A
book deal followed. Meanwhile an
investigation that ran in New York
magazine was optioned by Netflix.
Online, someone started selling
Anna Delvey-inspired T-shirts, with
lines such as: ‘My Other Shirt Will
Wire You $30,000.’ And social
media users cried out, ‘Free Anna.’
It was as though people were clin-
ging to her as an anti-Establishment
hero, rather than a fraudster whose
narcissism was despicable and whose
scheming was indiscriminate. And
the spotlight was only growingbrighter; by January 2018, Anna
had rejected an offer of three to nine
years behind bars in exchange for a
guilty plea. She would have her trial.
In his opening statement, Anna’s
lawyer offered the jury a line from
the song ‘New York, New York’: If
I can make it there, I’ll make it any-
where. ‘Because the opportunities in
New York are endless,’ he suggested.
‘Just like Sinatra had to do it his way,
Anna had to do it her way’ – and
said that she had planned to settle
her debts eventually anyway.
The majority of the media cover-
age was focused on what Anna was
wearing. This fascination took hold
after she appeared in court wearing
a black choker and a low-cut black
Miu Miu dress. Photos of her outfits
then spread like wildfire across the
internet. It was reported she had a
fashion stylist dressing her for the trial.
While the press covered her every
outfit and move, I scrutinised the
photos of her, looking for any sign
of guilt or remorse. As far as I could
tell, Anna’s emotions were more or
less dependent on the way she
appeared to the outside world.
Where was Anna getting the
money to fund her criminal de-
fence, wardrobe included? Who
was paying for her stylist? Did she
have some unknown benefactor
who stepped in to finance it all?
Leading up to my testimony, these
were the questions that occupied
a certain space in my brain.
On the morning of Wednesday
17 April this year, I arrived at New
York State Supreme Court. I was so
nervous. Feeling strong, feeling
ready, I kept repeating in my head.
Imagine, if you will, the opposite
of a wedding ceremony. To my left
and right, church-like pews were
filled with people who turned to look
at me. Some of them even took my
picture. But none of them knew me,
nor did I know them. She was there,
of course, sitting next to her lawyer.
I lifted my right hand, and swore
to tell the truth. The prosecutor
asked me whether I saw the person
who was accused of stealing from
me anywhere in the room. ‘She’s
there,’ I said, pointing to Anna,
looking in her direction for the first09-19-BYST-AnnaHeiress.indd 55 18/07/2019 12:24