17/06/2022 Convicted scammer Anna Sorokin says she is now selling NFTs

“I’m trying to move away from this like, quote unquote scammer persona," Sorokin said in an interview with NBC News' Savannah Sellers.

Anna Sorokin gives interview from inside ICE detention facility

Anna Sorokin, known for taking hundreds of thousands of dollars from friends and businesses while posing as a German heiress, said she's trying to move away from the "scammer persona" and plans to launch a collection of NFTs.

The infamous socialite minted 10 NFTs that will grant holders "exclusive access" to her, which includes perks like one-on-one phone calls, she told NBC News' Savannah Sellers in a recent interview.

Three "ultra platinum" NFTs grant the opportunity to meet Sorokin in person, and holders will receive a package of "personal items" from Sorokin.

“I’m trying to move away from this like, quote unquote scammer persona,” Sorokin, who is still in Immigration and Customs Enforcement custody, said from the Orange County Correctional Facility in upstate New York.

“This is, like totally, has been pushed upon me by the prosecution and by the following media and by the Netflix show, but I’m trying to move away from that definitely.”

Anna 'Delvey' Sorokin talks NFTs, new focus on 'something legal'

Sorokin, also known by her alias Anna Delvey, served about four years in prison after she was found guilty of defrauding and attempting to defraud banks and hotels out of hundreds of thousands of dollars. She falsely claimed to be a German heiress ith an inheritance of $60 million, and said she was raising funds to launch an exclusive Manhattan social club.

Her rise in the Manhattan social scene, as well as her arrest and subsequent trial, was depicted in the Netflix series "Inventing Anna."

Sorokin's NFT collection, "Reinventing Anna," is a play on the Netflix series.

"It's kind of one of the first steps I'm taking to start to tell my own story," Sorokin said.

Sorokin added that the "blockchain will be very helpful for the artist" to "reclaim the ownership and profiting from future sales."

"Especially in photography, you know, like how somebody takes a picture. And they're really so hard to track it, track the way it's being used," she said. "So I guess there's a lot of ways to abuse it. But with the right regulation, I can see this technology applied in great ways. And I think we are thinking about doing an NFC with my art ... for the future."

"It was definitely unethical ... I would not encourage anybody else to follow my footsteps."

When asked what she finds inspiring about her own story, Sorokin said she "never gave up," and that there's "always a way to turn something bad into something good."

"So I guess that's something that people can relate to," she said. "And there's obviously a line which would be drawn to which methods you should resort to while trying to achieve what you want."

When pressed on whether she crossed the line, Sorokin responded, "Well, the government definitely thinks that way."

"It was definitely unethical," she said, when asked about the banks she tried to defraud. "And I would not ... I would not encourage anybody else to follow my footsteps."Sorokin hopes that her future projects, such as her NFT collection, will give her a chance to focus her energy into "something legal."

Arts

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/amp/rcna33811