FROM: https://money.com/student-loan-scams-warning-signs/
Notorious “Soho grifter” Anna “Delvey” Sorokin made multiple appearances in court this week to stand trial for grand larceny and theft. True to form, she seems to be treating her trial like a street-style opportunity, with each outfit looking more stylish than the next.
If this is your situation
Stop reading. Start defending.
On Wednesday, Sorokin arrived wearing a black choker with a deep V-neck Michael Kors dress. On Thursday, she wore an Yves Saint Laurent blouse with Victoria Beckham pants. But hold on - how is she getting all these designer brands to Rikers?
As GQ confirmed, Sorokin has had the help of a stylist. Her name is Anastasia Walker, and her other celebrity clients include Courtney Love, T-Pain, and G-Eazy. Walker was recruited by Sorokin’s lawyer, Todd Spodek, who seems to be one running the show and is clearly invested in putting his client’s best foot forward. He told GQ:
It is imperative that Anna dress appropriately for the trial. Anna’s style was a driving force in her business, and life, and it is a part of who she is. I want the jury to see that side of her and enlisted a stylist to assist in slecting [sic] the appropriate outfits for trial. However the logistics of dropping off trial outfits at Rikers Island doest [sic] not work in our favor. Thanks.
As an image-conscious chameleon, it makes sense that Sorokin would want to look fresh in both the eyes of the jury and the scammer-obsessed public. This email from Spodek, however, does not immediately compute. Let’s break it down.
It is imperative that Anna dress appropriately for the trial.
Yes, she’s on trial. Appropriate is good. Not sure a choker is totally appropriate, but okay.
Anna’s style was a driving force in her business, and life, and it is a part of who she is.
For starters, Anna seemed more interested in exhibiting status than style with her wardrobe choices, but that’s a subjective judgement. Let’s talk about her business. What business? She told her friend Neff that it was going to be “a Soho House-ish type club” that “focused on art.” She would call it the Anna Delvey Foundation, or ADF for short. But of course, none of that manifested in reality, save for a brochure. Instead, Sorokin used ADF as a reason to take people’s money, and rack up bills for “business lunches” and dinners at restaurants like Seamore’s and Le Coucou.
The Anna Delvey Foundation was real in the mind of Anna Delvey, though. “I was never trying to be a socialite,” she told New York. “I had dinners, but they were work dinners. I wanted to be taken seriously.”
So, her style was perhaps a way of expressing who she believed she was and could be, in work and life. Any sane person could relate to that. Right?
“There’s a little bit of Anna in everyone,” said her lawyer. “Everyone lies a little.”
I want the jury to see that side of her and enlisted a stylist to assist in slecting [sic] the appropriate outfits for trial.
This is where I pause. Why would Spodek want to remind the jury that Sorokin used her style to trick people into thinking she was rich and successful, so that they would fund her non-company? At first, I read this defense as a way of saying that fashion types simply cannot help but scam. Which, to be fair, I would not entirely disagree with.
“In her world this is what her social circle did,” Spodek said. “Everyone’s life was perfectly curated for social media. People were fake. People were phony. And money was made on hype alone.”
But if Sorokin was a phony who really believed everything she did was in service of the Anna Delvey Foundation, then perhaps the jury will see her black chokers and designer clothes as a sign that she’s steadfastly committed to a bit. As Sorokin said herself, maybe she’s even talented. Spodek called it “chutzpah” and “moxie.”
I’m no legal expert, but I’m starting to like Spodek’s logic. He seems to understand the power of a good look, and what it means to go the extra mile for it. According to the Post, he’s also a fan of Frank Sinatra, and quoted the crooner’s famous line, “if I can make it there, I’ll make it anywhere,” to argue that, “Just like Sinatra had to do it his way, Anna had to do it her way.” I mean, what a move!
When I inevitably rob a bank in order to afford Prada’s spring 2019 collection, I definitely want Spodek and all his typos in my corner.
Thanks.