My Friend Anna: The True Story of a Fake Heiress

Rachel DeLoache Williams, a photography editor at Vanity Fair magazine, recounts how her friendship with a woman calling herself Anna Delvey unraveled into a financial and emotional nightmare when she discovered Anna was a con artist with a fabricated identity. The memoir traces their relationship from its glamorous beginnings in New York through a disastrous trip to Morocco, a months-long battle for reimbursement, and Rachel's cooperation with law enforcement that led to Anna's arrest and criminal trial.

The book opens on May 18, 2017, the last full day of a group vacation at La Mamounia, a luxury resort in Marrakech, Morocco. Rachel was one of four travelers staying in a $7,500-per-night private riad, a traditional Moroccan house. Anna, who organized the trip, had invited Rachel along with Kacy Duke, a celebrity fitness trainer, and Jesse, a videographer friend of Rachel's. Hotel managers had been pressuring Anna for days about a nonfunctioning debit card. When they asked Rachel for a credit card, Anna coaxed her into handing over her personal card for what Rachel believed was a temporary hold. During a subsequent excursion, Rachel discovered that La Mamounia had charged over $30,000 to her card, freezing her account. By day's end, she emailed Anna an itemization of $9,424.52 in expenses, and Anna promised to wire $10,000 on Monday.

The narrative flashes back to Rachel's upbringing in Knoxville, Tennessee, and her career at Vanity Fair, where she rose from assistant to photography editor over six years.

Rachel met Anna in February 2016 at a Lower East Side nightclub while out with friends in the fashion world. Anna, who claimed to have interned at Purple magazine in Paris, had an ambiguously accented voice and an eccentric manner. She picked up the group's tab. Over subsequent outings, Anna described her ongoing project: the Anna Delvey Foundation, a visual-arts center she planned to house in a historic building on Park Avenue South, featuring galleries, restaurants, and a members-only club. She referenced a family trust and constant meetings with bankers and lawyers.

When Anna returned to New York in February 2017 after months in Germany, the friendship intensified into a routine of daily workouts, expensive meals, and evening drinks at 11 Howard, the hotel where Anna lived. Anna's spending grew lavish, and she pulled Rachel into costly activities while insisting on paying. Rachel noticed the power dynamic shifting but accepted it. Anna claimed to have passed the rigorous client-verification process at Fortress Investment Group, a financial firm, which Rachel took as proof of her legitimacy.

Anna proposed the Morocco trip in mid-April 2017, saying she needed to reset her ESTA visa, a short-term travel authorization for visitors. On departure day, Anna had not booked the group's flights; when her debit card was declined, Rachel put the approximately $4,000 in tickets on her own credit card. Throughout the trip, Anna's cards repeatedly failed and Rachel kept covering expenses. Hotel managers approached Anna with increasing urgency about the unpaid bill, but she reassured Rachel each time. The final morning brought the catastrophic confrontation described in the book's opening.

After Morocco, Rachel traveled through the South of France while Anna's promises of reimbursement became a pattern of delay: daily texts about a wire transfer and assurances the money would arrive on Monday. Rachel's American Express card stopped working, and she discovered La Mamounia had also charged $16,770.45 to her corporate card, bringing her total exposure to over $52,000.

Back in New York, Rachel spent months chasing Anna for repayment. Anna connected her with "Bettina Wagner," supposedly a family accountant in Germany; Rachel later suspected Bettina was a fake persona. She borrowed $2,000 from her boyfriend, Nick, to avoid a bounced rent check. Anna sent $5,000 via PayPal, but it barely dented Rachel's obligations, and American Express called daily demanding payment. Anna provided unverifiable wire reference numbers and cycling excuses: German bank holidays, frozen accounts, lawyers. By mid-July, Kacy Duke told Rachel that Anna had been ejected from a hotel in Casablanca after nonpayment, warning: "Something's not right here."

Rachel sought legal advice and went to the police with a binder of evidence, but officers said that since the events occurred in Morocco, they could not help. On August 1, 2017, Kacy orchestrated a confrontation at the Frying Pan, an outdoor bar on Manhattan's West Side. Rachel secretly recorded the exchange. Anna denied lying and claimed her trust would be accessible in September. Rachel texted Jesse during the confrontation: "I think she's a long-game con."

Shortly afterward, newspaper articles reported that Anna had been arrested for stiffing multiple New York hotels for over $12,000 in unpaid bills. Rachel's colleague Kathryn MacLeod, a senior photography producer, contacted the Manhattan District Attorney's Office on her behalf. An assistant district attorney (ADA) confirmed that Anna Sorokin, using the alias "Anna Delvey," was already the subject of a criminal investigation. Rachel met with ADA Catherine McCaw and began forwarding evidence to the Financial Frauds Bureau: text messages, audio recordings, timelines, and social media screenshots. She finally told her parents. Her mother said, "I am heartbroken that you went through that on your own, but I am so proud of you."

When Anna failed to appear for a September court date, prosecutors asked Rachel to re-establish contact. Through careful texting, Rachel learned Anna was at Passages, a luxury rehabilitation center in Malibu, California. She shared the information with Officer Michael McCaffrey of the NYPD Financial Crimes Task Force, who coordinated with the Los Angeles Police Department. On October 3, McCaffrey called: "They got her." Anna was arrested as she left Passages.

At her arraignment, Anna pleaded not guilty to six felonies and one misdemeanor. The indictment alleged she stole approximately $275,000 and attempted to steal millions more through schemes including "check kiting," a practice that exploits the time banks need to clear deposited checks. She had also falsified bank documents showing €60 million in overseas accounts to seek a $22 million loan for her foundation.

Before the trial, a Russian newspaper revealed Anna's true identity: Anna Vadimovna Sorokina, born in Domodedovo, Russia, daughter of a truck driver named Vadim Sorokin who emigrated to Germany in 2007. Anna rejected a plea deal offering three to nine years. Rachel, who had been laid off from Vanity Fair in February 2019, testified over two days. During cross-examination, defense attorney Todd Spodek attempted to portray her as profiting from the ordeal through a book deal. Rachel pushed back: "This is not about entertainment. It is about law and order and a crime."

On April 25, 2019, the jury found Anna guilty on eight charges, including attempted grand larceny in the first degree. She was acquitted of the charges related to Rachel's Morocco expenses, a result prosecutors attributed to possible jury compromise. Anna was sentenced to four to twelve years in prison. American Express ultimately credited all La Mamounia charges to Rachel's accounts, though the process took until May 2019.

Rachel describes lasting effects from the ordeal, including depression, anxiety, and insomnia. She repaid her debts and frames her cooperation with the investigation as motivated by both personal recovery and a desire to prevent Anna from victimizing others. The book closes with a quote from Anna's post-sentencing interview: "The thing is, I'm not sorry. . . . My motive was never money. I was power hungry. I'm not a good person."