From scam artist to actual artist.
Fraudster Anna “Delvey” Sorokin is virtually hosting an exclusive Art Basel Miami party that will feature artwork she created while on house arrest after serving four years in prison.
Sorokin is teaming up with New York-based gallery The Locker Room to throw “The House (Arrest) Party” for art collectors at a private residence in Miami on Saturday, according to a press release.
The 31-year-old swindler, who is currently on house arrest in her East Village apartment, will be doing a live Q&A session with attendees via Zoom.
Additionally, her masterpieces created after she served time will be on display at the fête and are available for purchase.
The Locker Room
The Locker Room
The Locker Room
The Locker Room
“Delvey’s new work represents the incorporation of acrylics and canvas following her greater access to materials following her incarceration and created while famously on house arrest in NYC,” per the release. “These new pieces will be exclusively available for purchase by collectors via Delvey’s partnership with The Locker Room.”
The Locker Room, a femme-owned creative house, explained in a statement why the gallery has teamed up with the former inmate.
Getty Images
Getty Images for ABA
Getty Images for ABA
“Anna’s story is compelling to us; a young immigrant female and aspiring art patron has become a representative of crime and deceit in a time of institutional mistrust and corporate theft,” the gallery tweeted on Tuesday. “From art student, to entrepreneur, to organizer, Anna has inhabited a number of roles since immigrating to the US, always with art as her raison d’être. We are excited to be collaborating with this disruptor and visionary as she renews her dedication to her art practice.”
Sorokin famously committed crimes under the name Anna Delvey. She falsified records and lied to banks, manipulating them into lending her tens of thousands of dollars so she could build a private members’ club and art foundation. She also convinced several luxury Manhattan hotels to let her stay on credit, only to check out without paying her bills.
She was arrested in 2017, convicted on grand larceny and theft services charges, and sentenced to four to 12 years in prison only to be released early for good behavior in 2021.
But the scammer — who was born in Russia, raised in Germany and has an EU passport, chose to live in the Big Apple — was taken into ICE custody weeks after her release. In October, she was out on bail and granted a $10,000 bond, which she was able to pay for with money she made on her online art sales.
Page Six previously reported that prints of her pieces start at $250 and the pencil-created originals can go for as much as $10,000 to $15,000.
The fake heiress gained even more notoriety when Netflix premiered the Emmy-nominated series “Inventing Anna,” which is based on Sorokin’s schemes. The streaming service paid Sorokin $320,000 for the rights to her story, however that has since been spent on her lawyers and restitution fees for her crimes.
