If you're like me and binge-watched all of Inventing Anna on Netflix in one sitting, then chances are you desperately want to know more about the real-life people who are depicted in this new limited series.
So, I've pulled together the best facts and info about all of the real people from Inventing Anna and what they are up to now:
There are obviously big spoilers ahead for Inventing Anna.
1. Anna "Delvey" Sorokin, who is played by Julia Garner in Inventing Anna:
After being arrested in 2018, Anna was found guilty in 2019 when a Manhattan jury convicted her on one count of attempted grand larceny, three counts of grand larceny, and four counts of theft services. During her time pretending to be a German heiress with a $60 million trust, she scammed numerous financial institutions and people out of thousands of dollars.
She was sentenced to 4–12 years in prison a month after being convicted, with New York judge Diane Kiesel saying she was "stunned by the depth of the defendant's deception."
According to the New York Times, Anna was moved through "five correctional facilities" before she was released on parole in February 2021. Then, six weeks later, Anna was arrested once again by immigration authorities for overstaying her visa and has now spent the last year in ICE detention while fighting her deportation to Germany.
Netflix paid Anna $320,000 for the rights to her story in order to make Inventing Anna. Anna used the money to pay back several people she still owed. According to a report by Insider, Anna used "$199,000 of the money to pay restitution to the banks" and then another $24,000 was used to settle state fines she had. Then, she also "paid $75,000 in attorney fees and will owe more once legal proceedings in her case have concluded."
When asked if she would ever watch Inventing Anna, Anna told Insider, "It doesn't look like I'll be watching Inventing Anna anytime soon. Even if I were to pull some strings and make it happen, nothing about seeing a fictionalized version of myself in this criminal-insane-asylum setting sounds appealing to me."
And in a recent interview with the New York Times, Anna detailed her time in prison and if she is remorseful for the crimes she was accused of, saying, "I feel sorry for the way my case is being perceived. And I feel sorry that I resorted to these actions that people think I’m glorifying now. I feel sorry for the choices I’ve made. Definitely, I don’t feel like the world would be a better place if people were just trying to be more like me."
2. Jessica Pressler, the inspiration for Vivian Kent, who is played by Anna Chlumsky in Inventing Anna:
In May 2018, Jessica Pressler's article "Maybe She Had So Much Money She Lost Track of It," which chronicled how Anna Sorokin swindled numerous NYC elite and banks out of a lot of money, was published in The Cut. Similar to Vivian's character in Inventing Anna, Jessica was also pregnant at the time while reporting the story.
About a month after her article was published, Jessica said she began talks with Netflix and Shonda Rhimes to turn her reporting on Anna Sorokin into a TV show.
Jessica continued to be a contributing editor for New York magazine following her Anna Delvey piece, and she's written for numerous other outlets, like Vanity Fair, GQ, Elle, Esquire, and more.
In 2019, Jessica's other famous The Cut article, titled "The Hustlers at Scores," was turned into the film Hustlers starring Jennifer Lopez, Constance Wu, Keke Palmer, Lili Reinhart, and more. Just like in Inventing Anna, a fictionalized version of Jessica was in Hustlers, and she was played by Julia Stiles.
For Inventing Anna, Jessica was a producer on the series and worked alongside Shonda Rhimes and her Shondaland team. According to Anna Chlumsky, Jessica attended every table read for all nine episodes of the series.
Jessica also visited Anna Sorokin alongside Julia Garner before production began and got to watch as Julia spoke to Anna using the accent she was going to use for Inventing Anna. And as of a few weeks ago, Jessica hadn't spoken to Anna in "a few months," since she's still in custody.
In June 2022, Jessica's book titled Bad Influence: Money, Lies, Power, and the World that Created Anna Delvey will be released.
3. Rachel DeLoache Williams, who is played by Katie Lowes in Inventing Anna:
After taking the stand at Anna Sorokin's trial, Rachel went on to chronicle how she was scammed by Anna in an article for Vanity Fair, titled "'As An Added Bonus, She Paid For Everything': My Bright-Lights Misadventure With A Magician of Manhattan." In the piece, Rachel talked about the infamous trip to Morocco, which featured Anna leaving Rachel with the bill and trying to steal $62,000 from her.
In 2019, Insider reported that Rachel was paid $300,000 by Simon & Schuster for her book My Friend Anna, which elaborated on her Vanity Fair article.
Then, Rachel was paid $35,000 by HBO to option her book into a project by Lena Dunham. However, according to Rachel's personal website, the option has since expired "and the project is not currently in development."
After Inventing Anna dropped on Netflix, Rachel criticized the streamer for paying Anna Sorokin. She told Vanity Fair, "I think promoting this whole narrative and celebrating a sociopathic, narcissistic, proven criminal is wrong." Rachel also went on to say that Shonda Rhimes and Netflix were basically conned into believing that Anna was "a special and even inspiring person."
And unlike Anna Sorokin, who hasn't watched any of Inventing Anna yet, Rachel said she's "been skimming" episodes but doesn't appreciate the "true-crime entertainment" the show is promoting. She said, "I think it’s worth exploring at what point a half-truth is more dangerous than a lie."
4. Todd Spodek, who is played by Arian Moayed in Inventing Anna:
According to the end of Inventing Anna, Todd became "the defender of choice for prominent fraudsters" after representing Anna Sorokin in 2018.
As of right now, Todd still runs Spodek Law Group Criminal Attorneys. The firm is described as "an elite criminal defense law firm, which is focused on providing the level best in service and white glove professionalism to all clients possible."
In 2021, Todd appeared in an episode of the HBO Max documentary series Generation Hustle. The episode told Anna Sorokin's story and how she scammed Rachel DeLoache Williams and numerous others. Rachel was interviewed too.
In terms of his work on Inventing Anna, Todd actually showed up to set one day and met Arian Moayed. The real Todd actually watched as Arian filmed the scene when Todd is cross-examining Rachel Williams, who is played by Katie Lowes. Arian said, "In some of the takes that we see, he is sitting in the back pews."
5. Neffatari "Neff" Davis, who is played by Alexis Floyd in Inventing Anna:
Neff actually found out Anna Delvey was really Anna Sorokin from Jessica Pressler when she began investigating Anna's circle of friends for her article. Jessica was also the person who told Neff that Anna had been arrested and was in Rikers.
And just like in Inventing Anna, Neff helped Jessica piece Anna's story together, but while the series shows Neff still working at the luxury 11 Howard hotel when Vivian comes around, in real life Neff was managing a Starbucks and had completely moved on from working at the hotel.
Following her interview with Jessica, Neff got in touch with Anna while she was in prison, and that's when she found out about the Morocco trip and how it ended badly. And just like in Inventing Anna, Neff did visit Anna while she was at Rikers in 2018. Neff told Vanity Fair, "I brought [Anna] stuff like I thought any girlfriend would do. I also wasn’t [feeling] hate towards her because she never scammed me."
Also, in 2018, Neff did an interview with Paper Magazine, called "Meet Neff Davis, Anna Delvey's Only Friend In New York," where she chronicled her relationship with Anna.
Eventually, when Shonda Rhimes started making Inventing Anna, she brought Neff on as a consultant and Shonda offered to teach Neff about filmmaking. Neff told Vanity Fair, "Shonda was like, 'Actually, it’s more than a consultant. I know you wanna make film. I want you to come on set. I want you to shadow directors. I want you to learn the cameras and how a production is made.' And I was like, 'That’s more than what was offered from anyone else.' Everyone was just, like, sell your life rights and get out of there. But Shonda nurtured my film bone."
And today, Neff says she's still "friends with Anna" and it's one of the reasons she and Rachel Williams don't always see eye to eye. She elaborated, saying, "I don’t know why the show was so rough on Rachel. ... I don’t have a hate towards her. It’s just that I’m friends with Anna. If you’re friends with someone, it’s hard to be friends with their enemy. It’s like a girl code."
6. And finally, Kacy Duke, who is played by Laverne Cox in Inventing Anna:
Just like in Inventing Anna, Kacy was interviewed by Jessica Pressler for her article in The Cut, but she refused to go on record because she was afraid of the negative publicity that could've happened once she was linked to Anna Sorokin.
After Anna was released from prison, Kacy told Vanity Fair that Anna called her to see if they could reunite on camera. However, Kacy used her contract with Netflix for helping on Inventing Anna as an excuse to not sit down with her.
In terms of working on Inventing Anna, Kacy loved getting to know Laverne Cox. Laverne talked on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon about meeting Kacy, saying, "[Kacy] trained me. I had a four-hour lunch with her where she told me her life story. She lived this incredible life. She trained everyone from Denzel Washington to Lenny Kravitz to Julianne Moore. And she’s been in the business for over 30 years. [Kacy] sent me flowers. She said: 'Congratulations. Laverne is killing it.'"
Similar to Neff Davis, Kacy still thinks Anna would've paid everyone back if she had gotten the loan. Kacy told Vanity Fair, "If she would’ve gotten that [followup loan], she would’ve paid things back to people because she hated looking poor. … I think she really had a great idea for something. I think that she didn’t know how to execute it. She was using people. But she had something. She was ambitious."
