Anna Sorokin, whose life posing as a wealthy heiress inspired the popular Netflix miniseries “Inventing Anna,” is facing a lawsuit from her former lawyer over claims the convicted con artist still owes her $152,000. File Photo courtesy of Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office/Wikimedia Commons
June 3 (UPI) — Anna Sorokin, whose life posing as a wealthy heiress inspired the popular Netflix miniseries “Inventing Anna,” is facing a lawsuit from her former lawyer over claims the convicted con artist still owes her $152,000.
Audrey Thomas, Sorokin’s former attorney, filed the lawsuit in the New York Supreme Court in Manhattan on Friday, records obtained by UPI show.
Thomas was disbarred last year for “professional misconduct” after a committee of the state’s Supreme Court found she had stolen $630,000 in escrow funds from Rhea Murray, an elderly client who hired her to oversee the sale of her apartment.
The standoff between Sorokin and her former attorney stem from as far back as 2017, when the con artist was arrested in a sting operation by NYPD officers working with the Manhattan District Attorney’s Office for theft and fraud.
Sorokin had claimed to be a German heiress by the name of Anna Delvey to scam banks and businesses out of around $200,000 to fund her lavish lifestyle. She was also accused of grifting her own friends, including former Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel DeLoache Williams — who aided in her arrest.
In 2019, Sorokin rejected a plea deal and was found guilty of eight charges, including grand larceny and theft of services. She was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison, fined $24,000 and ordered to pay restitution of $199,000 to her victims.
Sorokin, a German national born in Russia, was released on parole for good behavior in 2021 and was subsequently arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents for overstaying her visa.
She was held in a jail in New Jersey while awaiting deportation to Germany but has since been released on a $10,000 bond. Sorokin remains under house arrest at an apartment in Manhattan while she contests her deportation.
Thomas defended Sorokin through her immigration woes until April 2022, when the con artist fired and accused her in her own lawsuit of withholding records in her case, court records obtained by UPI show.
In her lawsuit, Thomas claimed that Sorokin ran up “astronomical legal fees” and has been using her own lawsuit as a means to “avoid paying” the fees to her.
“The disbarment of Audrey Thomas does not negate the balance that the defendant owes as the relationship between the plaintiff and the defendant ended on or about April 14, 2022, and the final invoice was sent to the defendant with the notice of right to arbitrate on or about July 26, 2022,” Thomas claimed.
“Moreover, the disbarment does not have anything to do with any of the actions taken by the plaintiffs in furtherance of the retainers that the defendant signed with the plaintiff.”
