What did Anna Delvey do? Why she needs an ankle monitor

Anna Delvey was eliminated from “Dancing with the Stars” on September 24 after only a brief appearance on the dance competition show.

Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, wore a sparkly dress as she performed a quickstep with partner Ezra Sosa, but one of her accessories stole the show: a rhinestone-encrusted ankle bracelet attached to her right leg.

The ankle bracelet was an inescapable reminder that Delvey, 33, is a convicted con artist who was released from prison in 2022 and remains under house arrest while she fights her deportation.

Delvey’s crimes came to public attention when she was arrested in 2018 for posing as a German heiress and swindling hundreds of thousands of dollars from banks, hotels and friends.

Her story inspired a 2022 Netflix limited series called “Inventing Anna,” starring Julia Garner.

Read on to learn more about the crimes Anna Delvey is alleged to have committed and where she is now.

What was Anna Delvey accused of?

Delvey was born in Russia and spent part of her childhood in Germany.

In her twenties, she moved to New York City, where she posed as a wealthy German heiress and mingled with some of the city’s most prominent public figures and investors, as well as people from the art world.

Her life in New York was marked by a series of scams. As detailed in a 2018 profile of Delvey in The Cut, Delvey used her status as a purported heiress to book rooms in luxury hotels with the promise that she was worth the money.

If payment was never made, management would throw her out and she would be passed on to the next hotel, and the ones after that.

At the same time, she courted wealthy donors to raise money for the Anna Delvey Foundation, which she designed as an exclusive art foundation and private club.

She was later accused of falsifying financial documents in a loan application for between $25 million and $35 million to finance her foundation.

That loan was rejected, but Delvey managed to get a $100,000 advance from another bank, which was granted to her based on forged bank documents, according to court documents.

Delvey was also accused of defrauding a private jet company of more than $35,000, according to court documents. She allegedly assured the company she had wired the money for her flight, but the money never arrived.

She was also accused of cheating on her friends. In April 2018, Delvey’s former girlfriend Rachel DeLoache Williams claimed in an essay for Vanity Fair that Delvey took her on a luxurious vacation to Morocco, but then unexpectedly left her with the $62,000 bill.

Delvey was later found not guilty of the fraud charge against Williams.

In October 2017, Delvey was arrested in New York and charged with several counts, including first-degree grand larceny, second-degree grand larceny, and theft of services.

Why did she go to prison?

In April 2019, Delvey was found guilty by the New York State Supreme Court on four counts of theft of services, three counts of grand theft, and one count of attempted grand theft, according to NBC News.

The following month, she was sentenced to between four and twelve years in prison.

Delvey was released from prison on parole in February 2021 after serving about four years, according to inmate records at Albion Correctional Facility in Albion, New York.

Just weeks after her release, she was taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) for allegedly overstaying her U.S. visa.

She remained in ICE custody until October 2022 and was then released under house arrest.

“After 17 months of immigration detention, an immigration judge determined that further detention for Anna was no longer necessary,” her immigration attorney John Sandweg said in a statement to NBC News.

“This ruling does not mean that Anna gets a free pass,” Sandweg continued. “She will continue to face deportation proceedings and her release will be closely monitored by immigration authorities and the State of New York.”

Delvey continues to fight against her deportation.

Why did she need an ankle bracelet on “Dancing with the Stars”?

The conditions of her house arrest include that Delvey must wear an ankle monitor.

She said she had received permission from immigration authorities to participate in the show.

“I was kind of talked into it. I got permission from ICE and then it was kind of too late to back out,” she told The Hollywood Reporter earlier this month.

Her spokeswoman, Juda Engelmayer, also said in a statement to the Associated Press that under the terms of her previous house arrest, Delvey was allowed to travel within a 70-mile radius of her home and “anywhere within the five boroughs of New York City.”

Delvey seemed to take a tongue-in-cheek attitude toward her ankle bracelet during her time on Dancing with the Stars, leaning into it rather than trying to hide it.

For her debut dance, she colored it blue and purple to match her dress, and for her final performance, the monitor was white and appeared to be encrusted with silver rhinestones.

Delvey said the monitor didn’t slow her down on stage.

“How would it affect my performance? It’s actually pretty easy,” she told The Hollywood Reporter.

Delvey was eliminated early on from the dance competition series and, when asked what she had learned during her time competing, gave an unsentimental answer.

“Nothing,” she said.

Delvey has made more than one public appearance since her release from ICE custody.

Earlier this month, she attended New York Fashion Week and walked the runway for Shao New York.

She has also started posting on Instagram again after previously being banned from social media and currently has 1 million followers on the platform.