Rachel Williams’ Memoir Outs Fake Heiress & Con Artist Anna Delvey

Forbes reports that former Vanity Fair photo editor Rachel Williams will be releasing My Friend Anna: The True Story of the Fake Heiress Who Conned Me and Half of New York City, a memoir that expands upon on her viral essay about the time she spent with con artist Anna Sorokin.

The memoir will detail her friendship with the infamous Anna Delvey, Sorokin’s con artist persona who pretended to be a German heiress living off a trust fund, staying at luxury hotels, and defrauding New York’s wealthiest. (Well, that last part she didn’t pretend to do. She DID defraud New York’s wealthiest, and she maintained the charade for longer than anyone could have imagined.)

 

Image via Forbes

 

Williams once joined Sorokin on a trip to Marrakech, which she assumed the ostentatiously wealthy Sorokin would pay for. ‘Delvey’ was known for generosity with her funds, frequently tipping hotel staff $100 bills for tasks as simple as delivering a package. Of course, this was a part of the charade: grand gestures intended to convince other that money was unimportant to her. Williams, convinced of Sorokin’s wealth, ended up paying the $7,000-a-night hotel fee with her own credit card. She was cheated out of $62,000, and her ex-friend never paid her back as promised.

However, karma prevailed. Sorokin was convicted last week of second-degree larceny, as well as theft of services and first-degree attempted grand larceny.

Williams revealed her motivations for writing the book:

 

 

 

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Hi friends, as some of you may know, two years ago I had a very strange experience with a friend named Anna who turned out to be not at all what she seemed. I never expected to meet a con artist. But that’s the thing: no one thinks it will happen to them. I am exceedingly grateful for the opportunity to share my story. I hope it may help others to see the warning signs where I did not. My Friend Anna is available for pre-order now (link in bio)—pub date July 23rd. #myfriendanna #annadelvey

A post shared by Rachel DeLoache Williams (@rdwilliams) on Apr 27, 2019 at 11:44am PDT

 

The book is being described as Sex and the City meets Catch Me if You Can, and it’s already on its way to the screen. Girls creator and star Lena Dunham is adapting Williams’ memoir for HBO, and Jennifer Lawrence and Margot Robbie have both expressed interest in the lead role. Shonda Rhimes is writing a series about Sorokin for Netflix as well.

 

Image via Forbes

 

V.P. Editorial Director of Gallery Books (My Friend Anna publisher), Aimee Bell, also praised the memoir as the foremost record of the fake heiress scandal:

 

My Friend Anna is the definitive account of the Anna Delvey story, with never-before-revealed behind-the-scenes details—from the beginning of the author’s friendship with Anna in downtown New York, to their ill-fated trip to Marrakech, to the Manhattan courtroom where the con woman was convicted.

 

My Friend Anna will arrive in July of this year.

 

 

Featured Image via Rolling Stone