What Did Anna Delvey Do? All About the Fraudster’s Past

The con artist who inspired the hit series 'Inventing Anna' was eliminated during week two of 'Dancing With the Stars.'

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Anna Delvey
Image Credit: Getty Images for ABA

Anna Delvey is best known for her controversial past as a fraudster, but she has recently focused on reinventing herself. The 33-year-old was a contestant on Dancing With the Stars but was eliminated on Tuesday, September 24, leaving many curious about how she got there. Since she’s known as a con artist to the public, viewers want to know the answer to one question: What did Anna do?

What Anna Delvey’s Real Name?

Anna’s legal last name is actually Sorokin. She was born in January 1991 in the small town of Domodedovo, which is located outside of Moscow, Russia. After visiting New York City for Fashion Week while interning at the French magazine Purple, Anna chose to relocate to the Big Apple.

What Did Anna Delvey Do?

The fraudster scammed countless people after she moved to New York City. While living out of various hotels and not paying her bills, Anna continued to scam various businesses. She used invalid credit cards and even faux bank statements in order to make herself appear as an affluent socialite.

By 2017, the New York Police Department arrested Anna during a sting operation. At the time, though, she had been staying at a Los Angeles addiction treatment center. In April 2019, Anna was found guilty on eight charges, including attempted grand larceny, larceny in the second degree and third degree, and theft of services.

When Did Anna Get Out of Prison?

After she was sentenced to four to 12 years behind bars, Anna received an early prison release in 2021. Since then, her story has gained notoriety, and Netflix adapted her life story into its successful series Inventing Anna.

What Is Anna Delvey Doing Now?

By the end of 2022, Anna had sold more than $300,000 in artwork. This, in turn, helped her post bail and to pay for several months of rent at her East Village apartment in New York.

Afterward, Anna managed to return to the fashion industry. In 2023, she was invited to appear at NYFW for the brand SHAO. The following year, Anna was invited to compete in season 33 of DWTS. Without shying away from her criminal past, Anna posed in an official promo photo for the show wearing an ankle monitor. 

On September 17, Anna Delvey made her Dancing With the Stars debut, performing a cha-cha with her partner, Ezra Sosa, to Sabrina Carpenter’s “Espresso,” which earned a score of 18 out of 30. In week two, themed for Oscar’s Night, she danced a quickstep to “Suddenly I See” from The Devil Wears Prada, receiving 17 points out of 30. Since there was no elimination during the first week, this brought her total to 35 points. Later that night, on September 24, she was eliminated during the double elimination. When host Julianne Hough asked her what she would take away from the experience, she replied, “Nothing.”