The fake socialite - who was found guilty of stealing $300,000 from friends and financial institutions and attempting to steal $22 million from a New York bank - believes she should be granted the right to remain in the United States as she is entitled to “a second opportunity” and not be sent back to Europe.
The 31-year-old convicted scammer - whose real name is Anna Sorokin - told CNN’s Jake Tapper in a televised interview on on Wednesday (12.10.2022): "I feel like if I were to leave and say, ‘Oh, whatever, I’m just going to move on and like move to Europe,’ I would be like accepting the labels that they are trying to slap on me. I feel like I deserve a second chance. It was my mistake that I made and I served my time and I feel like I should have a second opportunity.”
Anna admitted to being “so happy” to be liberated from the detention centre - while being under house arrest - and be able to begin making atonement for her past, which included deceiving New York high society into believing she was a German heiress with a vast trust money.
She said: "I feel like I’m receiving a second chance to mend my faults."
Anna - whose story was adapted into Netflix’s mini-series ‘Inventing Anna’ by Shonda Rhimes, with a cast including Julia Garner and Anna chlumsky - thought she is “left” with the false narratives around her personality today following her stone faced appearance in court.
Anna said: "They kind of built this idea of me and I’m just being left to cope with it. I’m trying to not glamorise my misdeeds and not persuade anybody to feel that’s the way to get famous. Because I suffered a lot as a result … even though I don’t always show it. I’m not going to go on TV and cry.”
At the time of sentencing, Anna - whose misdeeds were exposed in a story for The Cut by Jessica Pressler - vehemently denied being “sorry” for what she had done.
She said: “The truth is, I’m not sorry. I’d be lying to you and to everyone else and to myself if I said I was sorry for anything. I regret the way I went about certain things,” while claiming she always planned on repaying her creditors, which included two Manhattan hotels, a private aircraft firm and a bank.
Anna was free at the moment of release, according to her legal counsel.
"After 17 months in immigration detention, an immigration judge found that Anna's detention was no longer required and ordered her release with a number of supervision requirements," said Manny Arora.
This decision does not imply that Anna will get a free pass, according to John Sandweg. She will continue to be subject to deportation proceedings, and ICE and the State of New York will closely monitor her release. Anna does not, however, pose such a risk that further detention was required, the court determined.
