Fake heiress Anna Sorokin will be released from ICE jail but she'll have to abide by a social media ban
Sorokin, who was the subject of Netflix's "Inventing Anna," will be placed under house arrest with electric monitoring.
Mary Altaffer/Associated Press
- Anna Sorokin was granted a $10,000 bond and will be released from ICE jail.
- Sorokin will be under house arrest pending the result of her battle with ICE to remain in the US.
- She will also be required to stay off social media.
Anna Sorokin, the fake German heiress who conned her way into the social circles of New York's elite, has secured her release from Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention after 18 months.
Sorokin's lawyers told The Daily Beast that a $10,000 bail was granted by a judge, which means she will be released from federal jail after she posts the amount. However, according to a ruling seen by the outlet, Sorokin will be confined at a "provided residential address for the duration of her immigration proceedings."
Another condition of her bail includes a social media ban on making posts herself, or via a third party, per The Daily Beast.
Sorokin was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison in May 2019 on charges related to a scheme in which she pretended to be a millionaire German heiress named Anna Delvey to defraud banks and financial institutions into giving her money.
Sorokin has paid off the restitution from her criminal case in full. She was released from a New York jail in February 2021 after serving three-and-a-half years of a four-year sentence but was detained by ICE six weeks later.
In April 2021, a judge ruled that Sorokin would not be released from ICE detention pending the results of her case, agreeing with ICE's argument that the German national is a "danger to society." In February, Sorokin wrote an essay published by Insider about life behind bars, describing being "confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility."
According to the ruling seen by The Daily Beast, immigration judge Charles Conroy decided this week that Sorokin being under great scrutiny upon her release would prevent her from being a flight risk.
"She will be required to abide by conditions of release imposed both by the New York State Parole Board and immigration authorities, which, combined with her status as a public figure, will make it particularly difficult for her to avoid detection," Conroy wrote in the ruling. "For all of these reasons, the Court finds that Sorokin's risk of flight sufficiently mitigated."
Labeled by multiple media outlets as the "SoHo Grifter," Sorokin became the subject of "Inventing Anna," a hit series on Netflix.
Her lawyer, Duncan Levin, told The Daily Beast that his team was "extremely gratified by the court's decision," lauding the judge for recognizing that "Anna is not a danger to the community."
"While there are still a few hurdles to jump through on her release conditions, Anna is thrilled to be getting out so she can focus on appealing her wrongful conviction," Levin said, per the outlet.
Another member of Sorokin's legal team, John Sandweg, told Bloomberg that he thought the judge made the right call, seeing that Sorokin had not been accused of committing a crime since 2017.
"And the evidence clearly demonstrated that any risk she does pose can be adequately managed through supervision, electronic monitoring, parole, and the supervision of ICE," said Sandweg, per the outlet.
Sorokin and her lawyer Levin did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment.