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<ul class="summary-list"><li>A Canadian teen was arrested for allegedly stealing $36.5 million in cryptocurrency through a cell phone scam.</li><li>The teen was accused of using some of the funds to buy a rare <keyword id="12562318" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="gaming-username" source="Orion">gaming username</keyword>.</li></ul>A teenager in Canada was arrested for allegedly stealing C$46 million ($36.5 million) worth of cryptocurrency from a victim residing in the US, police in Canada said Wednesday. Some of the stolen cryptocurrency was used to buy an online username considered to be rare in the gaming community, and the transaction led investigators to find out who held the account of the username, Hamilton Police Service <a href="https://hamiltonpolice.on.ca/news/arrest-made-in-46-million-dollar-cryptocurrency--theft/">said in a statement</a>.The victim was the target of a cell phone scam known as SIM swapping, said police in Hamilton, a port city located in the province of Ontario. The department also said the case marked the biggest <keyword id="12562314" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="cryptocurrency-theft" source="Orion">cryptocurrency theft</keyword> reported from one person.A SIM swap attack is a hijacking method carried out by manipulating cellular network employees to duplicate phone numbers so a scammer can intercept two-factor authorization requests. Such requests lead to access to a victim's account. Hamilton Police said it made "multiple" cryptocurrency seizures surpassing C$7 million in value. The arrest was the result of a joint investigation with the Federal Bureau of Investigations and the US Secret Service Electronic Crimes Task Force.The Hamilton teenager's case of alleged possession of property or proceeds of property obtained by crime is being handled in the court system.

A teen accused of a $36.5 million crypto theft used some of it to buy a rare gaming username — which the police used to track him down

A hacker ripped me off for $10,000. The scam turned out to be brilliant &mdash; and terrifying.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>The real-life <keyword id="12215463" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-sorokin" source="Orion">Anna Sorokin</keyword> of "<keyword id="12387923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="inventing-anna" source="Orion">Inventing Anna</keyword>" says the stress of her <keyword id="41357" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="scam" source="Orion">scam</keyword> wasn't a problem.</li><li>The Netflix show conflates the different ways she misled people and banks, she told Insider.</li></ul>As "Inventing Anna" <a href="https://top10.netflix.com/tv/2022-02-13">topped Netflix charts</a> this month, many viewers had the same question.How did Anna Sorokin, a 20-something middle-class German national, go to New York and pretend to be an heiress with a $60 million trust fund, stiff expensive hotels, and create fake identities to lie to banks — and not freak out over the stress?In a series of interviews with Insider this week, Sorokin had a few different explanations.Any stress she felt, she said, was a good thing."I do not mind. For me, it's kind of like a driving factor," she said. "It motivates me a bit. The worst is having nothingness."As chronicled in <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html">the 2018 New York magazine story that became "Inventing Anna,"</a> Sorokin scammed Manhattan's social scene using the name <keyword id="12215464" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-delvey" source="Orion">Anna Delvey</keyword> for years before her arrest in 2017. She ran in wealthy circles and took part in trips, parties, and hotel stays — often while leaving other people with the bill.At trial in 2019, Manhattan District Attorney prosecutors <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-story-fake-heiress-2019-4">spent weeks painstakingly going through complicated financial documents</a> with the jury. Sorokin, in addition to putting on the airs of a wealthier person to friends and acquaintances, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-lawyer-interview-trial-scam-2019-4">told financial institutions</a> she was an heiress with a $60 million trust fund back in Germany.But while court documents show that Sorokin told banks she had a massive trust fund, Sorokin told Insider she didn't tell everyone the same story.People Jessica Pressler interviewed for <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html">the New York magazine story</a>, including Sorokin's close friend Neff Davis, said they had only vague ideas about her wealth. <keyword id="13106577" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="rachel-williams" source="Orion">Rachel Williams</keyword>, <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2018/04/my-misadventure-with-the-magician-of-manhattan">who accused Sorokin of scamming her</a>, said she had little understanding of where her money came from. Another acquaintance <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-50662268">said</a> she heard third-hand that Sorokin was an heiress.Sorokin paid for things with hundred-dollar bills, hung out with the rich, and let their imaginations fill the rest. People saw what they wanted to see, she said."Nobody ever asked me how much money I had, and I never asked anybody how much money they had," she said. "I also did not know about all these people's parents, and neither did I care."<div type="image" title="rachel williams anna sorokin delvey" height="2383" width="3177" msid="89674027" hostid="261"></div>Does she feel bad for Williams, who <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-vanity-fair-rachel-williams-witness-testimony-hbo-book-deal-2019-4">testified against her at her trial</a>?The jury acquitted Sorokin of the charge that she stole from Williams by leaving her with a $62,000 bill for a trip to Morocco, but Williams has <a href="https://www.insider.com/my-friend-anna-book-anna-delvey-sorokin-rachel-williams-2019-7">continued to criticize Sorokin</a> and <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-rachel-williams-vanity-fair-netflix-inventing-anna-essay-2022-2">blasted "Inventing Anna"</a> for glorifying her. For months, Sorokin promised to pay her back but gave her just $5,000 before her arrest. At her trial, Sorokin's lawyer Todd Spodek <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-vanity-fair-rachel-williams-witness-testimony-hbo-book-deal-2019-4">said she believed she'd be able to pay back Williams</a> in full once the Anna Delvey Foundation took off."I wish it wouldn't have happened," Sorokin said. "The whole trip — I just kind of fell into that, and I just was not giving too much thought. I was dealing with the things I thought were more important. And it was just not on my radar."Williams didn't immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.Sorokin did pay for some things. The jury found her guilty of failing to pay the bill at three Manhattan hotels, and she had to pay restitution. But another hotel she stayed at for weeks, the 11 Howard, she paid off after her stay and before her criminal charges. Sorokin said she always had a plan to pay everyone."It was not like I made my way to the hotel and I was like, 'I'm going see how long I will be able to get away with it,'" Sorokin said. "I was constantly working on things. I didn't just sit there."It was only "with the benefit of hindsight," she said, that all these representations of herself were knitted together in the narrative in New York magazine and "Inventing Anna." But from her perspective, the anxiety could be kept at bay."I always had things in the works," Sorokin said. "For me to be anxious would be to admit I was just sitting there, waiting to crash into a brick wall."<h2>The brick wall</h2>Getting a loan from a bank requires more than sleight-of-hand.Prosecutors from the Manhattan District Attorney's office <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-story-fake-heiress-2019-4">laid bare Sorokin's deceptions at her trial</a>.She falsely claimed in documents that she had a $60 million trust waiting for her, which she could use to repay loans. And she created two fake identities, "Peter Hennecke" and "Bettina Wagner," who would vouch for her finances. Sorokin created email addresses and used a voice disguising app to try to persuade bank officials that Hennecke and Wagner were real.The evidence prosecutors marshaled against Sorokin were circulated in the media while Sorokin was in custody. She was arrested in 2017 and remained in jail on Rikers Island until her 2019 trial. At her sentencing, New York State Supreme Court Judge Diane Kiesel <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-fake-heiress-sentenced-prison-2019-5">chided her</a> for caring too much about her outfits and worrying about who would play her in the Netflix show.<div type="image" title="inventing anna" height="1666" width="2223" msid="89674028" hostid="261"></div>It was only after being <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-interview-after-prison-release-2021-2">released from prison</a>, in February 2021, that Sorokin said she understood how the public saw her. Her media consumption had been drastically limited while behind bars.While Sorokin participated in the viral New York Magazine story and <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-paid-anna-delvey-sorokin-life-story-rights-2019-4">sold the rights to her life story to Shonda Rhimes' production company</a>, she told Insider she had only a hazy understanding that some members of the public lionized her as a scammer folk hero."It's just really abstract," she said. "When you don't have your phone, and you don't have social media, and you're not really exposed to the media, you are not really that aware of what's going on."Sorokin told Insider she regretted coming across as unapologetic in <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/10/nyregion/anna-delvey-sorokin.html">an interview with The New York Times after her conviction</a>, as well as in <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-interview-after-prison-release-2021-2">other media interviews</a>. She said it took time for her mentality to shift, which she was only able to do after leaving prison.Remorse, she said, "isn't linear.""Can anybody really expect a person to go through almost two months of a trial cleaning one thing, and then just change their mind completely in a minute?" she asked. "It's kind of a tough thing to do unless it's something as black-and-white as a murder.""What made me evaluate my position as having been out, and having seen what's going on on the outside," she continued. "How people perceive it on social media and in the media, and how people translated my case to what it means to them. Looking at it from that perspective, I would not want to be somebody who would encourage people to commit crimes."<div type="image" title="Julia Garner Anna Sorokin Delvey Inventing Anna" height="2000" width="2666" msid="89674030" hostid="261"></div><keyword id="12153787" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="immigration-and-customs-enforcement" source="Orion">Immigration and Customs Enforcement</keyword> <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-ice-custody-germany-deportation-2021-4">re-arrested Sorokin in March 2021</a>, six weeks after her prison release, for overstaying her visa. The agency <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delveys-instagram-posts-kept-ice-custody-lawyer-2021-4">argued before an immigration judge</a> that her interviews demonstrated she was un-remorseful and should remain in custody. Sorokin is currently jailed in upstate New York, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-writes-about-inventing-anna-and-life-in-jail-2022-2">fighting her deportation</a>.Prison, she maintains, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-interview-after-prison-release-2021-2">has little use</a>. She said it makes no sense to lock people up without addressing why they committed the crimes they were convicted of."There should be a case worker who would meet with you once a month or so and explore why you did what you did, what led to this, and how this can be avoided in the future," she said. "Personalized 'therapy' is the least that the system owes you when they take away everything."Sorokin worries that, once her immigration issues are dealt with and she's free again, it will be impossible to change her reputation."That's something I constantly think about," she said. "It's going to be a jab, people saying, 'Oh she's a criminal and she's only doing that because whatever.' It's the same thing with Kim Kardashian and her sex tape. You can take anything she's doing now and bring it back to that."She referenced the book she's writing about her life, saying it's easier to write with the pressure of prison. On the outside, there are too many distractions."I've been worried about I'll just never be able to write when I'm not in this cell. It's just impossible for me," she said. "Thinking back on my six weeks out, like I could not even write one page."

How do you pretend to be an heiress with a $60 million trust fund without having a nervous breakdown? Anna Sorokin says her mind was on other things.

<ul class="summary-list"><li>White-collar criminals who can't disconnect are spending thousands of dollars on prison cellphones.</li><li>Contraband phones are smuggled in by guards and are even dropped into prison yards by drones.</li></ul>For white-collar inmates eager to stay connected to the outside world, help is readily at hand — in the form of the ubiquitous contraband cellphone.Despite the disciplinary risks and black market prices ranging into the thousands of dollars, illicit cellphones are a coveted accessory, according to corrections experts, defense lawyers, and people who were once incarcerated.Sometimes the phones are smuggled behind bars the old-fashioned way by corrupt guards. But they can also literally fall from the sky."Particularly in the low-security camps, we hear drones are flying over and dropping contraband, including cellphones, behind the walls," said Craig Roth, a former inmate who now counsels clients on how to survive prison through his consultancy firm, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://insideoutsideltd.com/">Inside Outside Ltd</a>.Drone drops are cunning operations, said former New Jersey securities broker Joseph Degregorio, who served eight months at the federal prison in Devens, Massachusetts, for a $1.2 million investment scam.Degregorio was held at Devens for only a week in November 2022 when word swept through his unit that a drone had dropped a box holding 50 miniature cellphones in the yard."They'd paint the box to look like grass, so when it falls, it's camouflaged," Degregorio, 48, told Business Insider.That box was quickly intercepted by guards. But the next drone drop was successful a few weeks later, just in time for Christmas."The cellphones were going for $3,000," Degregorio said, explaining that the money changes hands on the outside through intermediaries. "And guys could rent them out on an hourly basis for two, three hundred dollars an hour," he said.Over the years, smaller phones and ever-improving drones have made smuggling easier. The best drones have sophisticated cameras and two-hour flight capabilities over 18 miles of range, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25190731-national-institute-of-justice-contraband-and-drones">according to a National Institute of Justice</a> report on drones and correctional facilities."It's incredibly prevalent and incredibly risky," said Justin Paperny, a former inmate whose consultancy, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.whitecollaradvice.com/">White Collar Advice,</a> advises clients before and after sentencing."Two weeks ago, I got a call from a crying mother whose son got caught with a phone in Lewisberg," he said, referring to the low-security prison camp in Pennsylvania."Now, he's facing solitary, or adding a year to his sentence, or being moved, and why? Because he had to send that email or make that phone call," Paperny said.<h2 id="191c20f0-1d54-4d51-ada3-0c2cee75752e">As many as half of 'Club Fed' inmates have phones</h2>Degregorio, who now works as a prison consultant at White Collar Advice, said he saw or heard about a couple dozen phones among the 1,000 people housed at FCC Devens, where there is a mix of security levels.But the lower the security level, the cheaper and more prevalent cellphones become, experts say.Contraband phones go for $1,000 or as little as a few hundred dollars, depending on supply, at minimum-security camps, the so-called Club Feds. (The play on "Club Med" reflects the relatively cushy accommodations — like the federal prison camp in Alderson, West Virginia, where Martha Stewart <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/take-a-tour-of-americas-cushiest-prison-2012-10#fpc-aldersons-main-administration-building-7">reportedly led yoga classes</a> during her five-month insider-trading stint.)"At the camps, you might have two guards over 200 guys, so there's leeway," Degregorio explained.At the minimum-security camp at Leavenworth, Kansas, half the people he knew had cell phones, and some had more than one, said Scotty Carper, 49, of Sacramento, California.Arrested on methamphetamine smuggling charges, Carper was released from Leavenworth in September 2023 after serving 11 months on a reduced charge of lying to federal officers.Throughout his sentence, "I saw everything from people walking around with them in their pockets, which was pretty brazen, to people on them on social media all night in their bunks," Carper, who now also works at White Collar Advice, told Business Insider."It's the contraband of choice, surpassing cocaine and fentanyl, especially for guys who are used to 24/7 connectivity," said Ron Kuby, a veteran Manhattan-based defense attorney."I get calls from contraband phones periodically from prisons," said attorney Norm Pattis, whose clients have included InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, members of the extremist group Proud Boys, and white-collar criminals."I don't want to say more than that," Pattis added, "except that the demand comes from the prisoners, and the supply often comes from the guards, and they protect each other."<h2 id="dd72e71d-63f1-493d-b6b9-dc7bd81a5e96">A problem 'for decades'</h2>Contraband cellphones have been a part of the prison black market <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/contraband-wireless-devices">"for decades,"</a> as the Federal Communications Commission notes online — but it's a problem that's hard to quantify.In Georgia, one of the few states to release statistics about cellphones in jails and prisons, officials say 8,074 contraband phones were confiscated in the state's jails and prisons last year, with 5,482 confiscated this year <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25190839-georgia-attorney-general-carr-letter-2024062024">as of June</a>.When asked for statistics on confiscations, a federal Bureau of Prisons spokesperson said it was against policy to provide "internal security" data.The <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fcc.gov/news-events/events/2010/09/workshopwebinar-on-contraband-cell-phone-use-in-prisons">FCC</a> and corrections officials have fought over how to solve the problem since at least 2010, when <a target="_blank" href="https://transition.fcc.gov/pshs/docs/summits/Combating-Contraband-Cell-Phones-in-Prison-Handout-v4.pdf">the FCC publicly rebuffed</a> law enforcement requests that cellphone jamming be legalized at the nation's 7,000 jails and prisons.Out of concern that jamming also interferes with public safety communications, the FCC has <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.fcc.gov/wireless/bureau-divisions/mobility-division/contraband-wireless-devices">promoted alternatives</a>, including systems that detect and block individual phones.But many in law enforcement say only cellphone jamming can truly stop the problem.Last year, South Carolina Attorney General Alan Wilson led a consortium of AGs from 14 states<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25182377-012523-sc-contraband-cellphone-letter"> urging that Congress pass legislation</a> legalizing jamming. The stakes are particularly high for Wilson; his office continues<a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.scag.gov/about-the-office/news/attorney-general-alan-wilson-announces-guilty-verdict-and-major-target-plea-in-the-prison-empire-investigation/"> to prosecute</a> a violent, 90-defendant drug ring run by imprisoned people using contraband cellphones.The Bureau of Prisons "has continued to make progress" against drone incursions, including spokesman Donald Murphy said in a statement. The bureau urges Congress to pass the Lieutenant Osvaldo Albarati Stopping Prison Contraband Act, which would upgrade the charge of smuggling contraband cellphones into a Federal prison from a misdemeanor offense to a felony, Murphy said."As with so many of the issues FBOP faces, funding for additional staffing is also important to make sure we have enough officers on duty to identify, prevent, and remove contraband," he added.<h2 id="41c75a10-48aa-4092-abd0-3de50b455769">Why cellphones?</h2>Nationwide, people incarcerated in jails and prisons are using cellphones to order hits and orchestrate kidnappings, Georgia's AG, Christopher Carr, <a target="_blank" class="" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/25190839-georgia-attorney-general-carr-letter-2024062024">wrote the FCC in June</a>.White-collar criminals tend to put their contraband phones to more benign uses."I know a guy who was in on a white collar crime, and he bought a phone because he didn't want to talk to his children on a prison phone," said Degregorio."He hadn't told his children where he was," he explained.People held in federal prisons are allowed 510 hours of free use each month on the prison wall phones. But there's no privacy, no Internet access, and calls are recorded and limited to 15 minutes. Inmates are also barred from conducting business over the phones."A couple of people I just consulted with, they wanted to still run their businesses," Degregorio said. "But you can't even tell your wife to sell stock."Other white-collar criminals "just want it to want it," he said with a laugh.Still, the risks are high."Getting caught with a phone, that's a level-100 disciplinary infraction, the same level as if you assaulted another inmate," Degregorio said.Just being friends or neighbors with someone who has a phone can get you in trouble, said Rothfeld, of the Inside Outside prison consultancy."I've had three clients in the past nine months who spent more than 100 days in solitary confinement after sweeps" for contraband cellphones at two federal prison camps, he told Business Insider."And they didn't even have cellphones," he said.Getting caught with a phone is a misdemeanor, and can lengthen an inmate's sentence by subtracting the days they have coming for good behavior, and it can get them transferred to a higher-security prison, said Paperny, of White Collar Advice."I tell my clients who are going in not to make things worse, and they say, 'How can it get any worse? I'm going to prison,'" Paperny joked."And then I tell them to stay away from cellphones," he said.

For white-collar prisoners who just can't disconnect, $3,000 contraband cellphones can literally fall from the sky

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Arthur Lee Cofield impersonated a movie mogul stole to steal at least $11 million, per a report.</li><li>He impersonated Sidney Kimmel using contraband cell phones, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported.</li></ul>Federal authorities found evidence that an inmate in Georgia's most secure prison impersonated a billionaire movie mogul in a scam that netted him at least $11 million, according to court papers. Arthur Lee Cofield Jr., 31, ran an operation inside the Georgia Department of Corrections' Special Management Unit in which he tricked customer service representatives at Charles Schwab into believing he was California billionaire Sidney Kimmel, <a href="http://www.ajc.com/news/investigations/inside-georgias-maximum-security-prison-an-inmate-is-said-to-have-impersonated-billionaires-to-steal-millions/2F7LRIYIWBECFEPEVM7ELHZGVU/">The Atlanta Journal-Constitution first reported</a> on October 7.Kimmel, 94, is the chairman and CEO of the production company Sidney Kimmel Entertainment. According to the court documents, federal authorities said Cofield used contraband cell phones to contact the financial services company and managed to get $11 million wired to a company in Idaho to purchase 6,106 American Eagle one-ounce gold coins. The scheme took place between June 4 and June 16, 2020, the court records showed.He then chartered a private plane to transport the coins to Atlanta and bought a mansion in Buckhead, Georgia worth $4.4 million.Charles Schwab told Insider in an emailed statement: "As soon as Schwab was aware of suspected fraudulent activity, we launched an investigation, initiated measures to protect the client's account, and notified the authorities." The US Department of Justice and Cofield's lawyer, Steven Sadow, declined to comment."Cofield was a shrewd, intelligent individual who could con you out of millions," Jose Morales, a warden at the Special Management Unit, told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Authorities suspect Cofield had other victims.Federal prosecutor Scott McAfee said at his bond hearing two years ago there was evidence suggesting Cofield conducted a similar operation when he stole $2.25 million from Nicole Wertheim, the wife of Florida billionaire Herbert Wertheim, per the court documents.Cofield was already serving a 14-year sentence for armed robbery, per the report. After Fulton County issued a warrant for his arrest for orchestrating a shooting in Atlanta that left the victim paralyzed, he was transferred from Georgia State Prison. Cofield is still awaiting trial and faces charges of attempted murder, per The Atlanta Journal-Constitution.Cofield has been charged with conspiracy to commit bank fraud and money laundering, to which he pleaded not guilty, the newspaper reported.Authorities believe Eldridge Bennett, 65, and his 27-year-old daughter Eliayah were part of the scheme, but have also pleaded not guilty.

Federal authorities say an inmate in Georgia's most secure prison impersonated a billionaire movie mogul and stole at least $11 million: report

<ul class="summary-list"><li>Rich defendants spend millions to turn their luxury homes into jails with 24/7 guards.</li><li>Guards have been accused of going easy on their wards, and one defendant escaped to Venezuela.</li></ul>Most jail cells don't have five bedrooms, four fireplaces, an au pair's quarters, and sweeping views of downtown San Francisco. And most inmates don't get permission to spend seven leisurely days out with their children when they're in town. But until former technology CEO <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/mike-lynch-the-ex-autonomy-boss-charged-with-fraud-in-the-us-2018-11">Michael Lynch</a> is tried over allegations that he had a role in a multibillion-dollar fraud scheme, a house in the posh Pacific Heights neighborhood that was recently listed for rent at $22,000 a month is his cage. He's the latest to benefit from an interpretation of federal law that lets rich defendants, in essence, be their own jailers. Most people charged with nonviolent crimes are released while their cases wind through the system. But judges are required to consider whether a defendant is a flight risk when deciding whether to hold them in jail. Rich defendants, sometimes with international ties, deemed a flight risk have offered to not just stay on house arrest with a GPS ankle bracelet but also hire armed guards to stop them. At least 13 people have been released on conditions similar to Lynch's since 2007, Insider found. They've been charged over accusations of lying to banks, paying bribes, scamming investors out of billions of dollars, and even slavery. Some judges say the law gives them little choice but to release such defendants pending trial. "There are many defendants who are too poor to afford even the most modest of bail bonds or financial conditions of release," one judge wrote. "This is a serious flaw in our system. But it is not a reason to deny a constitutional right to someone who, for whatever reason, can provide reasonable assurances against flight." Judges have essentially set the rules for defendants hiring their own jailers on the fly. A lack of detailed regulations and standards means that some defendants with the resources to escape and evade US authorities can do just that — and one already has. <div type="image" title="A three-quarters view of a white, four-story house in San Francisco. Greenery hangs over the front gate and two-car garage and a sedan is parked out front." height="2593" width="3458" msid="102168998" hostid="261"></div><h2>Private jails of the rich and famous</h2>American jails hold <a target="_blank" href="https://bjs.ojp.gov/sites/g/files/xyckuh236/files/media/document/ji21st.pdf">about 451,000 people</a>, a number that has changed little despite bail reforms across the country that were meant to drive it down. House arrest — where people accused or convicted of crimes are fitted with an ankle bracelet that alerts authorities to their whereabouts — has been <a target="_blank" href="https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/01/how-do-you-qualify-for-house-arrest.html">used for 40 years</a>. But around the 1990s, wealthy defendants who otherwise wouldn't qualify for home confinement began offering to pay for private security to keep an eye on them. And some judges have been amenable. The rarity of five-star in-home detention is partly because few can afford it; a security firm hired to guard the French economist and politician Dominique Strauss-Kahn in 2011 said it would cost $200,000 a month, Bloomberg <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-05-25/stroz-friedberg-builds-bodyguard-business-with-madoff-strauss-kahn-cases">reported</a>. But it's also because many judges asked to sign off on such terms have dismissed them, often with withering disdain. In 1994, Richard Louis Minns, an immigration consultant who traveled the world under more than a dozen names and was found civilly liable for the attempted murder of an ex-girlfriend, asked a federal judge to let him hole up, with 24/7 security, in a five-bedroom Texas mansion that had a swimming pool. The judge didn't think it was practical and <a target="_blank" href="https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/863/360/1459863/">said</a> "it would be inimical to our system of justice to permit a defendant to 'buy' his release pending trial." White-collar defendants who have gotten the nod include the Ponzi schemer <a target="_blank" href="https://www.businessinsider.com/how-bernie-madoffs-ponzi-scheme-worked-2014-7">Bernie Madoff</a> and David H. Brooks, the body-armor magnate accused of <a target="_blank" href="https://nypost.com/2008/01/04/no-more-swanky-panky/">looting his company</a> to pay for things such as a $10 million bat mitzvah for his daughter. Pursuant to court orders, their homes were stripped of electronic devices — no cellphones, no internet. Some went stir-crazy, The New York Times <a target="_blank" href="https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/27/nyregion/27bail.html">reported</a>. One defendant, Adnan Khashoggi, proposed being released to guards in 1989, the Los Angeles Times <a target="_blank" href="https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1989-07-20-mn-5193-story.html">reported</a>, but news reports don't indicate that the court imposed that condition. The first case Insider could find was the 2007 prosecution of Varsha and Mahender Sabhnani, who were accused of enslaving and abusing two Indonesian women at their Long Island, New York, home. Jeffrey Hoffman, a lawyer for Varsha, said the Sabhnanis didn't travel much but had children to raise and a perfume business to run. Hiring a team of guards led by an ex-chief investigator for a US attorney's office to monitor phone and internet activity, Hoffman said, was meant to allay the prosecution's concerns. The guards are often ex-detectives or FBI agents who can cost $200 an hour, but defendants still try to get around them. One of the off-duty police officers guarding <keyword id="23556011" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="samuel-cohen" source="keywords">Samuel Cohen</keyword>, a tech exec, reported that Cohen tried to pay him a $10,000 bribe, which resulted in Cohen being sent back to the slammer. And a guard from the firm <keyword id="23556009" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="stroz-friedberg" source="keywords">Stroz Friedberg</keyword> caught a woman trying to smuggle heroin to Cameron Douglas, the son of the actor Michael Douglas, inside an electric toothbrush. "The minute we brought him back from meeting with the DEA, I think, or the prosecutors, he starts saying, 'I want to brush my teeth. I want to brush my teeth,'" Anthony Valenti, the former chief investigator who was hired for the Sabhnani case and the Douglas case, said. "It was pretty obvious." Considering how brutal jails can be, experts said it's good that judges were inclined to accommodate well-off defendants. <keyword id="23556010" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="shima-baughman" source="keywords">Shima Baughman</keyword>, a professor at Brigham Young University who has written extensively about bail, said most defendants should be released without conditions and poor people should benefit from that, too — but that if a rich defendant who would otherwise pose a flight risk can afford security, it's better than the public footing the bill. The Founding Fathers felt "it was better to have ten guilty people go free than one innocent person be punished," Baughman said in an email, adding: "This is the way our criminal laws and protections are structured to protect the liberty of the innocent. Yes, once in a while someone escapes on bail but this is a rarity." <div type="image" title="This undated handout picture released on September 21, 2022 by the Instagram account of Interpol Venezuela shows Malaysian fugitive Francis Leonard Glenn, known as Fat Leonard, after his capture in Maiquetia, Venezuela." height="571" width="857" msid="102169002" hostid="261"></div><h2>'Fat Leonard' escaped, and a guard said security was lax</h2>There are only a few binding judicial precedents regarding home detention, so judges often look to how other judges have handled similar requests. The process isn't foolproof; last year, one wealthy defendant who built his own private jail found it easy to break out. Leonard Glenn "Fat Leonard" <keyword id="19934304" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="francis" source="keywords">Francis</keyword> was a key witness in the government's cases against US Navy officials it accused of accepting bribes in the form of cash, prostitutes, cigars, and <a target="_blank" href="https://www.justice.gov/usao-sdca/pr/malaysian-defense-contractor-leonard-francis-pleads-guilty-corruption-conspiracy">Spanish suckling pigs</a> in exchange for steering their ships to ports where Francis' company would overcharge them for refueling and other services. But Francis, who had been on medical release for cancer treatment for years with a guard who was supposed to be on-site at his home, bolted in 2022. He made it to Mexico and chartered a flight to Cuba. Francis was on the run for over two weeks before he was captured in Venezuela, with plans to make it to Russia, Interpol Venezuela's director general said at the time. He still hasn't been returned to the US, and it's not clear when he will be, given the frostiness of US-Venezuela relations. The full details of Francis' escape — including who was supposedly guarding him — haven't emerged. <a target="_blank" href="https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23883227-us-v-leonard-glenn-francis-unsealed-fat-leonard-medical-furlough-hearing-transcripts-2018-to-2021">Transcripts</a> of hearings about his medical care show defense lawyers, prosecutors, and Judge Janis Sammartino as relatively unconcerned with who, specifically, was guarding him, only that he be guarded. At least one of the people who guarded him before his escape had a criminal record. Ricardo Buhain, who guarded Francis in 2018, said he was hired by one of Francis' doctors for $10,000 a month. He was <a target="_blank" href="https://archive.ph/ZNm6Q">convicted of felony theft in 2001</a> and spent 18 months in prison but told Insider no one asked about it while he was being hired. In 2021, after he was no longer working for Francis, Buhain pleaded guilty to statutory rape of a 17-year-old and served several months in jail. The former guard said he would accompany Francis on walks outside the property and drive him to approved locations, such as a church and his doctor offices. He said he was concerned that naval officers would try to exact retribution on Francis. Buhain said he was initially rigorous about sticking to protocols. "I was on high alert for the first several months," Buhain said. But after a while, he said, he stopped keeping logs of who came and went. Even though Francis was prohibited from accessing the web, he had an iPad and a computer, Buhain said, and it seemed like Pretrial Services officers didn't care. Pretrial Services did not respond to requests for comment. "They would've found stuff if they really looked," Buhain said. He added that he quit the job after about six months. When he quit, Buhain said, "I never had to give a report to the feds." He added: "They never did any kind of debriefing or nothing." Defense lawyers have pushed back on several aspects of the prosecutors' case, including the lack of transparency about Francis' release conditions. Bob Boyce, a lawyer for a former naval officer who is seeking a new trial in the Francis case, had mixed thoughts about Buhain's background. "It certainly would cause some concern. You'd want to investigate it a little more," he said. "But I don't know what qualifies or disqualifies someone from being a private security." Prosecutors and lawyers for Francis pointed Insider to public filings and declined to comment. <h2>Security-guard rules set a low bar</h2>Robert McCrie, a professor at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice who focuses on private-security companies, said Francis' escape showed the benefit of stricter regulations and experienced guards. Some states don't regulate security guards at all, he said, and others have bare-bones training requirements. "The majority of them are trained in eight hours or 16 hours," he said. "Honestly, that's a pathetic level of training." If judges didn't concern themselves with the details, he added, it "could not go well." Even trained and experienced guards have been accused of playing nice with their prosperous wards — who, after all, are the ones who sign their paychecks. When Ng Lap Seng, a real-estate tycoon eventually convicted of bribing two United Nations officials in New York, was in the care of guards from Guidepost Solutions, they improperly allowed a masseuse to visit him several times and drove him to Chinatown to get dinner, court documents said. Guidepost did not reply to requests for comment. Ruben <keyword id="23556008" type="General" weightage="20" keywordseo="weigand" source="keywords">Weigand</keyword>, who was convicted of helping sneak millions in marijuana transactions through the US banking system, made the unusual decision to use his private bail-sitters as character references, <a target="_blank" href="https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/16976912/310/united-states-v-weigand/">filing flattering letters</a> to the court when it was time to be sentenced. He "knows each and every one of us and asks how we are and how our families are and if we need anything," one wrote. "It was natural to strike up a bond with Mr. Weigand," another wrote. The judge in San Francisco seems to have put a greater emphasis on Lynch's security. He forced him to hire guards, even though <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2011-05-25/stroz-friedberg-builds-bodyguard-business-with-madoff-strauss-kahn-cases#xj4y7vzkg">prosecutors hadn't requested it</a>, and explicitly authorized his security company, Keelson Strategic, to use force if Lynch tried to bolt. Keelson didn't reply to emails seeking comment. When an Insider reporter recently swung by Lynch's home, there were no guards or cameras visible. There would be severe penalties if Lynch tried to make a break for it: If he somehow managed to escape, his $100 million bail would be forfeited. But he still has more freedom than the typical detainee. Earlier this month, a judge authorized him to join his daughters for day trips around San Francisco between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. as long as two armed guards went everywhere with them. His bail conditions could also be changed. For the time being, Lynch is set to remain confined to a Pacific Heights mansion where, according to a real-estate agent's listing, he can look out and see Alcatraz in the distance.

Rich white-collar suspects are spending millions to turn their luxury homes into jails with 24/7 guards — and one has already escaped

The Anna Delvey Industrial Complex &mdash; and me

<keyword id="12215463" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-sorokin" source="Orion">Anna Sorokin</keyword> — aka <keyword id="12215464" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-delvey" source="Orion">Anna Delvey</keyword> — was convicted in 2019 for a scam in which she pretended to be an heiress with a $60 million fortune. Her story is the subject of the Shonda Rhimes-produced Netflix limited series "<keyword id="12387923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="inventing-anna" source="Orion">Inventing Anna</keyword>."Anna Sorokin — aka Anna Delvey — is sitting in a jail cell in upstate New York. After a period between 2013 and 2017 when she scammed New York's downtown socialite scene as a fake German heiress, a jury found her guilty of grand larceny, among other charges, in connection with her scheme. <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-lawyer-interview-trial-scam-2019-4">Sorokin said she had a legitimate business plan</a> for a project called the Anna Delvey Foundation. Her lawyer <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-morocco-trip-villa-kardashian-2019-3">said she was trying to fake it 'til she made it</a>.On February 11, Netflix will release "Inventing Anna," a nine-episode limited series <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-paid-anna-delvey-sorokin-life-story-rights-2019-4">based on Sorokin's exploits</a> and the journalist Jessica Pressler's <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html">New York magazine article</a> that made her famous. Julia Garner, <a href="https://www.insider.com/inventing-anna-netflix-cast-real-people-photos-anna-sorokin-2022-2">who plays Sorokin</a>, <a href="https://www.wmagazine.com/culture/julia-garner-ozark-inventing-anna-interview">has said</a> she and producer Shonda Rhimes visited Sorokin in prison while preparing the show.The show traces how Sorokin grafted herself onto Manhattan's business and art worlds by claiming she had a $60 million trust fund in Europe, scammed her way through expensive trips, hotels, and restaurants, while leaving everyone else with the bills, and the elaborate lengths she went to keep her operation going.Police arrested Sorokin in 2017, and she spent about two years in jail on Rikers Island before her jury conviction. She served about another two years at Albion Correctional Facility in upstate New York until her release in<a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-interview-after-prison-release-2021-2"> February 2021</a>. Sorokin was <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-ice-custody-germany-deportation-2021-4">rearrested by ICE six weeks later</a> for overstaying her visa and has <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-immigration-limbo-ice-custody-2021-10">remained in its custody since</a> as she waits to see if she'll be deported to Germany.Below, Sorokin writes about her experience in prison, getting COVID-19 in jail, and having a Netflix show about her made while she sits behind bars.While the world is pondering <a href="https://www.insider.com/julia-garner-anna-sorokin-accent-inventing-anna-netflix-2022-1">Julia Garner's take on my accent</a> in "Inventing Anna," a Netflix show about me, the real me sits in a cell in Orange County's jail in upstate New York, in quarantine isolation.I am here because <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-immigration-limbo-ice-custody-2021-10">Immigration and Customs Enforcement decided</a> that my <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-released-from-prison-2021-2">early merit release from prison</a> means nothing to them and, despite being perfectly self-sufficient when left to my own (legal) devices, I, in fact, present "a continuous danger to the community." Apparently, Daily Mail headlines are admissible evidence that override the decisions of the New York State Board of Parole and can be used to back up the Department of Homeland Security's arguments that instead of getting a job, I was "busy getting my hair done" — me and my bad ways.While I was in prison, I <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-paid-anna-delvey-sorokin-tv-series-victim-fund-2021-1">paid off the restitution from my criminal case in full</a> to the banks I took money from. I also accomplished more in the six weeks they deemed were long enough for me to remain free than some people have in the past two years. My <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-rikers-island-trial">visa overstay</a> was unintentional and largely out of my control. I served my prison sentence, but I'm appealing my criminal conviction to clear my name. I did not break a single one of New York state's or ICE's parole rules. Despite all that, I've yet to be given a clear and fair path to compliance.Did I mention I'm the only woman in ICE custody in this whole jail? Tell me I'm special without telling me I'm special."The court finds that, even if released from detention and ordered to report regularly to ICE, the respondent would have the ability and inclination to continue to commit fraudulent and dishonest acts," an immigration judge ruled. "She clearly possesses the knowledge to do so and has failed to demonstrate remorse." Sorry, am I on trial for this again?So no — it doesn't look like I'll be watching "Inventing Anna" anytime soon. Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalized version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me.<div type="image" title="Julia Garner Anna Sorokin Delvey Inventing Anna" height="2000" width="2666" msid="89305659" hostid="261"></div>I still remember the night of <a href="https://abc.com/shows/2020/episode-guide/2021-10/01-the-sinfluencer-of-soho">ABC's "20/20" episode</a> about me in October. It was also unfortunately the night when the meds come really late, so everyone was up waiting and watched it.It's hard to explain what I hate about it. I just don't want to be trapped with these people dissecting my character, even though no one ever says anything bad. If anything, everyone's really encouraging, but in this cheap way and for all the wrong reasons. Like, they love all the clothes and boats and cash tips. I saw only the first couple minutes before I went back into my cell. I was definitely not going to sit there and watch it with everybody. And I don't need any more jail friends, thank you very much.For a long while, I was hoping that by the time "Inventing Anna" came out, I would've moved on with my life. I imagined for the show to be a conclusion of sorts summing up and closing of a long chapter that had come to an end.Nearly four years in the making and hours of phone conversations and visits later, the show is based on my story and told from a journalist's perspective. And while I'm curious to see how they interpreted all the research and materials provided, I can't help but feel like an afterthought, the somber irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself.Admittedly, I, the ultimate unreliable narrator, have made some questionable choices that I wouldn't necessarily repeat today.Do these decisions inevitably make me a permanent threat to public safety? The government says yes.But in comparison with whom? Everything's relative.It makes no sense for me to still be here long after they have brought in and then released numerous violent offenders (robbers, rapists, would-be murderers) and people with an assortment of felony DUIs and grand larcenies. Do they not "clearly possess the knowledge" to recommit the same crimes they've been accused of before, or do different standards apply to them?Meanwhile, I spent another set of holidays followed by a COVID-19-tainted birthday in a depressing cell, which therefore logically categorized me as more dangerous than every single one of those people. In that case, it's totally understandable why I shouldn't be allowed out of my cell for weeks at a time. Who'd want to take the risk?After I finished my prison sentence and left Albion, I thought all this was over, forever, and that I'd never see the inside of another correctional institution again.Shortly afterward, I found myself in the Orange County jail by way of Bergen County Jail, where everything triggers constant flashbacks. Altogether, I've been through seven different facilities for one single case. It's like "Groundhog Day."I never complained about a lot of things. From the very beginning of my journey incarcerated in the state of New York, I thought people just wanted to see me be miserable.The same hand consistently finds its way to your knee, lingers on your calves, grabs your ankles, wrists, waist: cuffs, chains, bruises on the same spots. It's all for the sake of security, of course.Be cool. Don't be annoying. I was considered "not a regular white girl, like the rest of them here." I tried to be a "good sport," and it got me things. Not always but most of the time. Small stuff — enough to be competitive about. I got away with things others didn't. It's not that I wanted their validation. It was more that I didn't want to deal with the consequences of not having it.I didn't say anything when they brought article printouts and tearouts from papers and magazines, in a jail where the New York Daily <keyword id="11893589" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="100" keywordseo="news" source="Orion">News</keyword> is being policed daily and purged of any mentions of Rikers and any of its inmates in "media review."A lot of this nonabuse is subtle, shaped by an understanding that in jail, you are a problem that needs to be dealt with.What you won't see in the Netflix show is my newly acquired habit. I have to methodically bite the skin around my nails until the nail beds slowly fill with blood from both sides, collect at the tip, which I then squeeze until there's enough to drip down the sink of the cell with opaque white-spray-painted windows I spend 91.2% of my day in. Rinse and repeat. It doesn't accomplish anything tangible, other than dulling an obsessive fixation on another wasted day that I'll never get back. And I can't just stop.In jail, I quickly gave up on the concept of privacy. How many people can really say they are fully in control of theirs, anyway?And most importantly — didn't I put myself here?Just when I thought it couldn't get any worse, on January 19, I tested positive for COVID-19.I'm sure I'll live, but I haven't been this sick in years.The jail's response to a positive test is to just lock you up. It's convenient for them. It all shall pass, no? The majority of people here quickly caught on and stopped complaining about symptoms out of fear of getting locked in. The staff insists on using the words "<a href="https://www.npr.org/sections/health-shots/2021/10/04/1043058599/rising-amid-covid-solitary-confinement-inflicts-lasting-harm-to-prisoner-health">medical isolation</a>," even though there's nothing medical about it. One is simply being made to sit in a cell with a hole in the door. This place is like a Petri dish for viruses and bacteria. The only fun is listening to dim-witted sergeants come up with 50 different ways to tell you no.There is always a good reason for everything. They're understaffed and tired, and there is a hundred-day backlog (Of what? No one ever specifies.), which apparently is supposed to be my problem, even though I never asked to be here. I don't recall any delays or backlogs in me getting arrested.I haven't seen a real doctor in over four years. Dismissive nurses who suspect everyone just wants to get high and would do anything to obtain generic meds don't count.It's designed this way, the jail. They take away your choices, and give you the worst, so next time you'll think twice before stabbing your neighbor — or overstaying your visa.During my latest ICE bond hearing, in October, it was the government's burden to prove I would be a danger to my community if I were released.They presented no evidence to demonstrate my alleged insatiable drive for continued criminal exposure. With eight remaining years of parole supervision apparently not being a good enough deterrent, and in absence of anything better, what they did find was an Instagram post from 2018 — an old picture of <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html">my friend Neff</a> and me on a rooftop in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood, posted by her to my account with the location tagged as "Rikers Island maximum security prison" (which isn't even a thing), as a throwback joke. (Editor's Note: Neffatari Davis is Anna's friend and a consultant on "Inventing Anna," and was extensively quoted in the New York magazine story.)The picture started multiple internal and NYPD investigations, none of which yielded results. I never got as much as a written infraction.It was refreshing to find out that for an agency that thrives on flaunting all kinds of rules, ICE created very few restrictions for its own operations.It's hard to prepare or submit any evidence for the court's consideration when you find out about the hearing 10 minutes before it takes place. Is it fair to call me "unpredictable" if you never gave me a chance to create stability?The most recent twist from ICE is that I've been waiting since November for a decision "to reissue" a letter that never arrived here. It should be an easy thing to determine considering all my mail is being logged. Who knows how much longer it will take to think this over — a month, six months, a year?Such decisions can't be rushed. And as long as the threat to public safety is secured in a cell, who cares?Many of the inmates here don't speak a word of English but are released into the community without as much as an ankle bracelet or token bail. I'm genuinely glad for them. The majority I've encountered seem like kind and well-meaning people who happen to have made a couple of mistakes. But I doubt any of them meet the standards of financial stability and property ownership ICE has used to keep me in here.Most Americans think of Mexico when they hear "ICE." No wonder — the mainstream media is flooded with news where <keyword id="12153787" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="immigration-and-customs-enforcement" source="Orion">Immigration and Customs Enforcement</keyword> is mentioned mainly in the context of deportations and detentions of minorities.During my time in this jail (where I'm in general population with others who are in regular criminal proceedings), I've learned that most people don't even realize ICE deals with every immigrant, not just enforcement of the southern border. I've heard numerous variations of, "I didn't realize you were Mexican. You really can't tell!" and, "It's crazy that they can hold you for this long, and you aren't even from Mexico."The revelation that you didn't have to be Hispanic to have all kinds of problems with ICE seemed to register as genuine surprise.Some go a step further and offer friendly advice: "Did you know there's an office in the city where you can renew your visa? Did you ask your lawyer?" Yes, and then I kind of <a href="https://nypost.com/2021/03/31/anna-sorokin-in-ice-custody-after-reporting-to-immigration-authorities/">got arrested at that office</a>.Will I forever be judged by my early-to-mid 20s? Is there anything else I could possibly have done to close this chapter?Will I forever be stuck in a past not entirely of my creation without getting a chance to move on? How many years of reflecting on an overdrawn bank account are socially acceptable before one is allowed to open another one?How many ancient VHS tapes does one have to watch before one's considered reformed?

Erasing Anna: From ICE detention, Anna Delvey talks about her new Netflix show and life behind bars

<ul class="summary-list"><li>"<keyword id="12387923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="inventing-anna" source="Orion">Inventing Anna</keyword>" on <keyword id="11892922" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="netflix" source="Orion">Netflix</keyword> tells the story of scammer <keyword id="12215463" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-sorokin" source="Orion">Anna Sorokin</keyword>, also known as <keyword id="12215464" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-delvey" source="Orion">Anna Delvey</keyword>.</li><li>The fake heiress was convicted in 2019 of stealing and trying to steal from banks and other institutions.</li></ul>On Friday, Netflix released "Inventing Anna," a nine-episode limited series about Anna Sorokin — also known as Anna Delvey — who <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-story-fake-heiress-2019-4">scammed New York</a> by pretending to be a German heiress with a $60 million trust fund.The show, starring <keyword id="13006331" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="julia-garner" source="Orion">Julia Garner</keyword> as Sorokin, goes through how the German national, born in Russia, reinvented herself in New York in a bid to create the Anna Delvey Foundation, a <a href="https://www.insider.com/londons-most-exclusive-private-members-clubs-2017-5">Soho House</a>-like space in Manhattan. Along the way, she fooled socialites and members of the art and finance worlds, living an extravagant jet-setting and high-fashion lifestyle as she took money from banks and left hotel bills unpaid.Where is the real Anna Sorokin now? She's back in jail. Not for the crimes she was convicted of, but <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-immigration-limbo-ice-custody-2021-10">for overstaying her visa</a>.In <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-writes-about-inventing-anna-and-life-in-jail-2022-2">an essay for Insider earlier this month</a>, Sorokin said she felt like an "afterthought" in the release of "Inventing Anna.""Nearly four years in the making and hours of phone conversations and visits later, the show is based on my story and told from a journalist's perspective," she wrote. "And while I'm curious to see how they interpreted all the research and materials provided, I can't help but feel like an afterthought, the somber irony of being confined to a cell at yet another horrid correctional facility lost between the lines, the history repeating itself."She wrote that she was dismayed by everyone else's interest in "all the clothes and boats and cash tips" of her scam."So no — it doesn't look like I'll be watching 'Inventing Anna' anytime soon," <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-writes-about-inventing-anna-and-life-in-jail-2022-2">Sorokin wrote</a>. "Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalized version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me."<h2>Sorokin was found guilty at trial in 2019 and released from prison in 2021</h2>Eventually, as "Inventing Anna" depicts, Sorokin's scam caught up with her. She was <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-rachel-williams-vanity-fair-netflix-inventing-anna-essay-2022-2">arrested in the fall of 2017</a>. The Manhattan District Attorney's office accused her of using her false identity to steal from banks, hotels, a friend, and a private-jet service — and trying to steal millions of dollars more.While she was incarcerated at Rikers Island, she participated in a story about herself for journalist Jessica Pressler, whose <a href="https://www.thecut.com/2018/05/how-anna-delvey-tricked-new-york.html">May 2018 article about Sorokin</a> in New York magazine went viral and became the basis for "Inventing Anna." Sorokin also <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-paid-anna-delvey-sorokin-tv-series-victim-fund-2021-1">sold the rights to her life story to Netflix, as Insider previously reported</a>, and "Grey's Anatomy" creator Shonda Rhimes signed on to produce the series as part of her overall deal with the streaming company.<div type="image" title="Anna Sorokin delvey trial" height="3486" width="4647" msid="89510599" hostid="261"></div>A jury <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-story-fake-heiress-2019-4">found Sorokin guilty of most of the charges against her</a> — larceny, attempted larceny, and theft of services — in April 2019, though she is appealing her conviction. Her defense lawyer at the trial, Todd Spodek, <a href="https://www.insider.com/inventing-anna-netflix-cast-real-people-photos-anna-sorokin-2022-2">who's also portrayed in "Inventing Anna,"</a> argued that she was trying to "fake it 'til she made it," and that <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-lawyer-interview-trial-scam-2019-4">her false image as a wealthy woman was necessary</a> in order for financial institutions to take her business plan seriously.Judge Diane Kiesel, who oversaw Sorokin's trial, gave a blistering verdict and sentenced her to four-to-twelve years in prison. "Inventing Anna" ends with Garner playing Sorokin on a bus on the way to Bedford Hills Correctional Facility, where she was initially sent to serve her sentence. After giving <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-jailhouse-interview-not-sorry-fighting-other-rikers-inmates-2019-5">an unapologetic interview with the New York Times</a> following her conviction, Sorokin changed her tune with the New York State Board of Parole a year later. She <a href="https://www.insider.com/netflix-paid-anna-delvey-sorokin-tv-series-victim-fund-2021-1">received around $320,000 from Netflix</a> once it exercised its option to make "Inventing Anna" and used the money to pay her lawyers and companies the court required her to pay back.<div type="image" title="Julia Garner as Anna Sorokin Delvey Inventing Anna Netflix" height="2397" width="3197" msid="89510600" hostid="261"></div>She was <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-released-from-prison-2021-2">released from New York's Albion Correctional Facility on February 11, 2021</a>. Her overall time behind bars, including on Rikers Island, was around three-and-a-half years.In <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-interview-after-prison-release-2021-2">an interview with Insider after her release</a>, Sorokin said she found prison "a huge waste of time," that America's criminal justice system was "pointless," and that she was trying to "move on" after the mistakes of her youth."It's about who you know. It's kind of like the scene in New York, but amplified," <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-interview-after-prison-release-2021-2">she said</a> of life in prison. "Because if you know the right officers, they're going to get you the right job."Sorokin also quickly got to work. Over the next few weeks, she became active on Clubhouse, a viral app that let people have audio-only conversations, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-ice-custody-germany-deportation-2021-4">began work on a fashion line</a>, floated the idea of selling NFTs, and started a project called "Anna Delvey <keyword id="11898468" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="tv" source="Orion">TV</keyword>."But it was all on borrowed time.<h2>Immigration enforcement took Sorokin into custody 6 weeks after her release from jail</h2>Immigration and Customs Enforcement had already declared, before Sorokin's trial even began, that she would be deported back to Germany. If she was found innocent, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-trial-ice-deportation-german-2019-3">a spokesperson told Insider</a>, she'd be put on a plane. If she was found guilty, the spokesperson said, she'd be put in prison and then put on a plane.On March 25, 2021, ICE did what it promised. While Sorokin checked in with her parole officer, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-ice-custody-germany-deportation-2021-4">agents arrested her</a> and took her to a detention facility in New Jersey. She was later moved to Orange County Jail in New York, where she remains.<div type="image" title="anna sorokin delvey snakeskin print dress" height="1602" width="2136" msid="89510601" hostid="261"></div>Audrey A. Thomas, the attorney handling Sorokin's criminal appeal, is also handling her immigration issues. And though a New York parole board found Sorokin fit for release, <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delveys-instagram-posts-kept-ice-custody-lawyer-2021-4">an immigration court judge decided otherwise</a>. At an immigration court hearing, Department of Homeland Security officials argued that her social-media posts and media articles about her demonstrated she wasn't sincerely remorseful about the crimes she'd been convicted of committing.Sorokin remains in immigration limbo, and <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-immigration-limbo-ice-custody-2021-10">Thomas has filed several emergency court applications</a> as authorities have sought to deport her.<a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-immigration-limbo-ice-custody-2021-10">In her essay for Insider</a>, Sorokin wrote about the Kafkaesque nature of the immigration law system that's keeping her behind bars, and getting COVID-19 while detained."The jail's response to a positive test is to just lock you up," she wrote. "It's convenient for them. It all shall pass, no?"

The real Anna Delvey from 'Inventing Anna' is back in jail

<ul class="summary-list"><li>A new <keyword id="11931454" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="art" source="Orion">art</keyword> gallery, "Free <keyword id="12215464" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-delvey" source="Orion">Anna Delvey</keyword>," features five prison drawings from <keyword id="12215463" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="anna-sorokin" source="Orion">Anna Sorokin</keyword>.</li><li>She's still in jail, so she hired an art forger to recreate them in a large format.</li></ul>"I'm a notorious art forger," is how Alfredo Martinez introduced himself. "Basquiat, mostly." He is underselling himself. Martinez served a couple of years in prison in the early 2000s for <a href="https://medium.com/truly-adventurous/the-faker-66e9fb076908">a scam where he forged paintings by Jean-Michel Basquiat</a>. While incarcerated, he began taking art seriously on his own terms. One of his prison drawings, of a gun, <a href="https://www.moma.org/collection/works/96616?artist_id=28706&amp;page=1&amp;sov_referrer=artist">was purchased by the Museum of Modern Art</a>. In the two decades since he finished <a href="https://nymag.com/nymetro/news/people/columns/intelligencer/n_9717/">his own sentence</a>, Martinez has become a fixture of <keyword id="11892836" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="new-york" source="Orion">New York</keyword>'s downtown art scene, curating dozens of gallery showings that connect big names and grittier, up-and-coming artists.So when Anna Sorokin — also known as Anna Delvey — was released from prison in February of last year, Martinez knew he had to collaborate with her.He noticed some of Sorokin's drawings from her stints in Riker's Island and Albion Correctional Facility, posted on her Instagram, and saw a promising young artist.A year's worth of canceled plans and coordination from jail culminated Thursday night with "Free Anna Delvey," a gallery showing in Manhattan's Lower East Side — not far from the hotels Sorokin scammed — featuring around two-dozen artists riffing on the con artist. Five of the works of art are by Sorokin herself, recreated on large-print watercolor paper by Martinez."If she's gonna get someone to copy her artwork, it's good she got a Basquiat forger to do it," Martinez told Insider.Thursday night's opening served as a launchpad for the gallery show, which runs until March 24 at 176 Delancey Street. In the 150-person throng, which spilled out into the outdoor backlot, a few familiar people from Sorokinworld made an appearance. Emily Palmer, the reporter who covered her trial for the New York Times, was there ("I think I'll include a few paragraphs about this in the next story, about her immigration issues," she said.) Todd Spodek, the criminal lawyer who defended her in her trial, depicted by Arian Moayed in Netflix's "<keyword id="12387923" type="UNKNOWN" weightage="60" keywordseo="inventing-anna" source="Orion">Inventing Anna</keyword>," also showed up. One man, who identified himself as a graffiti artist, approached him."Are you her lawyer? I need a lawyer," he said."What's your tag?" Spodek asked.Spodek told Insider he's done 11 trials since <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-delvey-sorokin-trial-story-fake-heiress-2019-4">Sorokin was convicte</a>d, in April 2019, for her scam where she pretended to be a fake heiress with a $60 million trust fund to bilk money from financial institutions so she could build a business called the Anna Delvey Foundation. None of those trials, he said, has received nearly as much attention. But for Sorokin, he said, he hoped the art show would prove that she can move her life forward."What I want for Anna is for the trial and the tribulations of the past to be one chapter in a multi-chapter book about her life," he told Insider. "It's time to move past that. She's created wonderful art. People are here to celebrate her and that's what's important."<h2>Chants of 'Free Anna Delvey!'</h2>One person who did not make an appearance was, of course, Sorokin herself. While she finished her prison sentence in February 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested her six weeks later and has kept her in jail since, claiming she hasn't been rehabilitated. Sorokin, a German national, has spent the past year fighting deportation and <a href="https://www.insider.com/anna-sorokin-delvey-deportation-appeal-health-issues-2022-3">was nearly flown out earlier this week</a>.At around 9:15, Sorokin called Martinez's phone. His co-curator, Julia Morrison — who herself had a moment in the spotlight when <a href="https://www.insider.com/armie-hammer-messages-sex-slaves-sold-as-nft-daily-beast-2021-4">she minted an NFT</a> of screenshots of <a href="https://jellymorrison.medium.com/armie-dm-tmi-nfts-artist-statement-juliamorrison-b02eb91a20bd">what she said were Instagram messages from Armie Hammer</a> about sex slavery and cannibalism ("Dibs on the glute muscles and ribs for smoking," Hammer appeared to have said in the messages; he's denied wrongdoing) — told the rest of the room to "shut the fuck up.""We're paying $1,000 for this phone call," Morrison yelled.Sorokin, alone in her jail cell, thanked the crowded room for their support."Free Anna Delvey! Free Anna Delvey!" the crowd chanted."Very happy and grateful for the grassroots support I've been getting from both young artists and the art world in general," Sorokin told Insider Friday morning. "Hope I'll be present in person for the next one."<div type="image" title="send bitcoin anna delvey drawing" height="527" width="703" msid="90314153" hostid="261"></div>Morrison told Insider she teamed up with Martinez to help Sorokin "pivot to the art world." They came up with the idea in February 2021, when Sorokin was freed from prison, of "a con artist turned artist helping another con artist make her way into the art world." But Sorokin ignored the Instagram DMs they sent. "It was impossible to get ahold of her," Martinez said. "So what I did was, I planted some story in Page Six to get her attention."Sorokin saw <a href="https://pagesix.com/2021/03/22/anna-sorokins-artwork-catches-curators-eye/">the story</a> and got in touch. At first, Martinez and Morrison wanted to have Sorokin create an NFT for a gallery, subverting her reputation for forging financial documents, since NFTs are used for authentication. But when she was re-arrested, they pivoted. They obtained Sorokin's drawings, and Martinez, acting as her artist's assistant, recreated them.The self-aware drawings joke about the media attention and thumb their nose at ICE and the prison she's been in. One depicts her at a command center called "JPay," the app she used to communicate to the outside world from Albion Correctional Facility. She's wearing Agent Provocateur and Alexander Wang paired with prison socks. She wants people to send her Bitcoin.<h2>Why is Sorokin the one in jail?</h2>Morrison had two pieces of her own work at the show. One is "Nothing to See Here: White House Toilet," a toilet filled with shredded documents meant to recreate "the White House toilet where former President Donald Trump <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-documents-flushed-down-toilet-presidential-records-act-2022-2">flushed documents</a> and other property belonging to the American public." She said she planned to fill it with pee and resin, then smash it with a sledgehammer this weekend. The other was "Manafort in a fort," of her pet hamster named Manafort in a cage lined with shredded pages of Paul Manafort's indictment.Here was the message of "Free Anna Delvey," Morrison said: Trump took 15 boxes of classified documents home with him to Mar-a-Lago — not to mention all the other stuff. Paul Manafort helped install pro-Russia president Viktor Yanukovych in Ukraine. Sorokin took around $200,000 but paid it all back and served out her prison sentence. So why was she in jail and the others walking free?"She paid her time. She paid restitution for all of her crimes," Morrison said. "There are many men who have done the same thing that she's done, but they have connections, influence, power, and fancy names. And they never see the inside of a day of court because of it."<div type="image" title="Anna Sorokin Free Anna Delvey show julia morrison" height="3024" width="4032" msid="90314154" hostid="261"></div>The gallery had another function too, Morrison and Martinez said. As an established artist, Sorokin could qualify for <a href="https://www.uscis.gov/working-in-the-united-states/temporary-workers/o-1-visa-individuals-with-extraordinary-ability-or-achievement">an O-1 artist visa</a>, which could allow her to remain in the US.Morrison's pieces weren't for sale, but the others at the gallery were. Sorokin's were priced at $10,000 apiece. On Friday morning, Morrison told Insider there was a single buyer interested in snapping up everything from the gallery, and that the costs were being negotiated.Other works explored other aspects of Sorokin's personality. Noah Becker, the artist and magazine publisher, who told Insider he speaks to Sorokin multiple times a week, created a painting of graffiti-covered sculptures imposed on an impressionist landscape.He described his painting as "post-art-world," said Becker, who <a href="https://open.spotify.com/episode/2jIftSOV3knJReSqvlzCfx?si=67bd09bf0da349b6">recently recorded a podcast interview with Sorokin about her artistic interests</a>. "The millennial to end all millennials."<div type="image" title="Anna Sorokin Free Anna Delvey show rina oh amen" height="2707" width="3609" msid="90314155" hostid="261"></div>Rina Oh Amen painted "Her Royal Highness Princess Annoushka (Anna Delvey) Louise of Savoy," which casts Sorokin as a royal surrounded by monarch butterflies and the imperial Russian crown atop her head.The painting, Oh Amen said, evoked the imperious way Sorokin carries herself. As with Sorokin's sense of humor, it was steeped in irony."Usually, it's the other way around," she said. "Marie Antoinette did not care about the poor people. But Anna Delvey did not care about the rich people."It was an apt metaphor. While the crowd celebrated her and jeered the people who got away with worse, Sorokin remained in jail. Her power, after all, was only on paper.

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