'She Paid For Everything': Victim Of Fake Heiress Recounts Theft

SOHO, NY — A Manhattan woman who lost $62,000 when her friend-turned-accused scam artist racked up expenses on her credit card recounted the experience in an essay for Vanity Fair.

Rachel Williams, who identified herself as a photo editor for the magazine, penned a piece about how her friendship with the alleged con artist Anna Sorokin ultimately cost her.

Sorokin was arrested in October after stealing $275,000 through a number of different scams, Manhattan prosecutors said last year. In one of her schemes to steal money, prosecutors said, she posed as a German heiress while trying to secure a loan. Authorities added at the time that Sorokin, 27, was also accused of stealing $62,000 from a friend.

Williams identified herself as that friend on Monday, writing about how she met Sorokin, who also went by Anna Delvey, at a Manhattan bar in 2016. The two became friends over the course of the next year, with Sorokin picking up the tab for expensive dinners, workouts with a personal trainer, and more along the way, Williams wrote.

"I felt a mixture of pity and admiration for Anna. She didn’t have many friends, and she wasn’t close with her family," Williams wrote. "As an added bonus, she paid for everything."

Sorokin, who has pleaded not guilty to multiple charges, invited Williams on an all-expenses-paid trip to Morroco in May 2017, prosecutors said last year and Williams recounted in her piece.

"She picked La Mamounia, a five-star luxury resort ranked among the best in the world, and knowing that her selection was cost-prohibitive for my budget, she nonchalantly offered to cover my flights, the hotel, and expenses," Williams wrote.

Their fancy villa cost $7,000 a night and was staffed with a full-time butler, according to Williams. When Sorokin's debit card was declined during the trip, she asked her friend to front her the money, with promises that she would be reimbursed, prosecutors said. Williams said both her friend and the villa's management pressured her to put down her card for the lavish stay.

"First Anna, and then the men, pressured me to put down my credit card for that block while Anna sorted out the situation with her bank. I was stuck," she wrote. "At least I knew Anna was good for the money. I’d seen her spend so much of it."

Williams said she spent months trying to get Sorokin to repay the $62,000 debt, before eventually reporting the incident to police in Manhattan. She said the officers she spoke with told her the case would be difficult to prosecute because the two had been traveling abroad when the alleged theft happened.

Sorokin was later indicted on separate charges, after which Williams said she contacted the Manhattan district attorney's office and ultimately testified before a grand jury about her relationship with Anna.

Sorokin remains on Rikers Island after rejecting a plea deal that would have put her behind bars for three years. According to the Manhattan district attorney's office, Sorokin established a number of different scams. She deposited $160,000 in bad checks in her bank account, using some of that money to cover a $30,000 bill at the high-end 11 Howard hotel, where she lived to several months while in Manhattan, according to authorities. She faces multiple grand larceny charges.

Sorokin's attorney said in a statement to Vanity Fair that the burden "rests squarely with a lender to conduct the appropriate due diligence before extending credit of any type."

You can read Williams' full piece for Vanity Fair here.

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