Fake heiress Anna Delvey joins ‘DWTS’ Season 33 — ankle monitor and all
Anna Delvey has just scored another accessory: a pair of dancing shoes.
The socialite con artist — whose real name is Anna Sorokin — has joined Season 33 of “Dancing With the Stars” alongside new pro Ezra Sosa.
As “DWTS” tapes in LA, it appears Delvey — who still wears an ankle monitor — has been given special permission to take part in the competition series. Sorokin’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, confirmed Tuesday that she could travel within 70 miles of her home base and anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City under previous house arrest conditions, per the Associated Press. However, they could not comment on any changes to those rules.
The “fake heiress,” 33, was arrested in 2017 for defrauding major financial institutions, banks, hotels and friends out of more than $250,000 to fund her luxurious lifestyle by pretending she was the daughter of a German oil tycoon.
Two years later, Delvey was convicted on eight charges, including attempted grand larceny, larceny in the second degree and theft of services, but was acquitted on two additional charges.
After being sentenced to four to 12 years in prison — which included time spent behind bars during trial — Delvey was released in February 2021.
Despite being freed, her legal troubles were far from over. Delvey was then detained by immigration authorities for overstaying her visa.
In 2022, Delvey was released from US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, where she spent over a year at the Orange Country Correctional Facility.
At the time, she told the New York Times, “I definitely have a way different perspective now than I did when I came out the first time last February. It’s just impossible to have been through what I’ve been through without changing. I learned so much being in jail.”
The public’s fascination with Delvey grew as she became the inspiration for the Netflix show “Inventing Anna.” Like many, Shonda Rhimes found the trickster’s story especially compelling. After reading the 2018 New York Magazine article “How Anna Delvey Tricked New York’s Party People,” she immediately became “obsessed.”
“I remember calling my office and saying, ‘There’s this article and we have to get it,'” Rhimes, 54, shared in a production featurette in 2022. “I was fascinated by so much of it. I kept wondering how she uncovered so much of these details.”
The whirlwind tale led the “Grey’s Anatomy” creator to write “Inventing Anna” from the perspective of the journalist (played by Anna Chlumsky) who viewers thought was based on the real-life reporter, Jessica.
And yes, Delvey has seen parts of the streaming platform drama and finds the fictional version of her (played by Julia Garner) more “brazen” than she.
“I think I’m more self-aware of the way I come across, not all of the time, but I just don’t think that I’m so brazen and shameless,” she told the New York Times.
Although if Delvey wanted to watch the show in its entirety, she has time to do so, as she has remained under house arrest since October 2022. The New York resident has also been forced to wear an ankle monitor since her release.
Delvey exclusively told The Post that she truly doesn’t want the “spectacle” that comes with wearing the GPS tracker.
“Every time I go out, what’s being written is I’m sporting the ankle bracelet or I’m flaunting it,” she explained in August. “People don’t seem to want to acknowledge that I don’t have a choice but to wear it.”
Delvey added: “It’s just like I would not want to make such a spectacle out of this. I would love to be able to go out, and not be stared at or like not every delivery person asking me if I killed my husband, or something.”
On her way to a June court appearance, she decided to have some fun with the ankle bracelet by putting the letter “A” in rhinestones on it. “I’ve been wearing one for almost two years. I think, once or twice, it’s my right to bedazzle it,” Delvey continued, with one ICE source calling her the “bedazzled b—h.”
But as a new season begins, Delvey has some concerns in the fashion department.
“I think the biggest hurdle is the over-the-knee boots but the fall season is still upon us,” she admitted. “So far I’ve had bigger issues to worry about.”
Delvey also revealed she plans to talk with her lawyers about making a motion for the judge to swap the ankle contraption for a VeriWatch wrist tracker. So far, she has been successful in prior requests. Delvey petitioned the immigration judge to allow her to use social media again after claiming it violated her right to free speech, to which she was granted the ability to do so.
Now, Delvey’s biggest legal battle will be fighting to stay in the country long term and whether or not her two years in prison will be upheld.
She noted to The Post: “I feel like I have spent the majority of my adult life in the States. All of my friends are here. All of my projects and everything I’ve been working on are here. And it would be extremely difficult for me to ever come back if I were to leave.”
As it turns out, “Dancing With the Stars” is only one of many new ventures for Delvey. She’s currently working on a “pop up” fashion PR company with Cutrone called OutLaw Agency.
“I’m very excited for the fashion week. We have so many things in the works. And yeah, we’re just working nonstop. It’s the busy season,” she gushed.
After Delvey gets through New York Fashion Week, she plans to hit the market for a new Manhattan pad that isn’t like the “prison” of her old apartment. “Its a different feel to be able to leave your apartment,” the budding publicist said of her future home. “I wouldn’t be moving into a new prison.”