Anna Sorokin's 'pal' Rachel Williams sues Netflix for depicting her as 'snobbish, greedy and disloyal'
WILMINGTON, DELAWARE: Rachel DeLoache Williams, former friend of fake German hieress and socialite Anna Sorokin, is suing Netflix over the way she was portrayed in 'Inventing Anna'. Williams filed the defamation suit against the streaming giant on Monday, August 29, at the US District Court of Delaware. Actress Katie Lowes portrays Williams in the show.
According to PEOPLE, the documents read, "This action will show that Netflix made a deliberate decision for dramatic purposes to show Williams doing or saying things in the Series which portray her as a greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person."
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Williams, 34, used to work for Vanity Fair as a picture editor in 2018. She wrote about her encounter with Sorokin, 31, alleging that the fictitious German heiress tricked her into racking up around $62,000 in debt on her business credit card on a trip to Morocco. She later penned the book 'My Friend Anna: The True Narrative of a Fake Heiress', which Simon & Schuster released in 2019. She also had a deal with HBO regarding her story, which has now expired, and Lena Dunham was supposed to produce it.
The lawsuit disputes most of how she was portrayed in the Netflix series, including making disparaging remarks about Sorokin's friend Neff Davis, taking advantage of Sorokin, leaving her behind in Morocco when she got into trouble, cutting off Sorokin as a friend when she couldn't afford things, and lying to people about assisting police in catching Sorokin.
"In reality, she never did or said those things. Thus, this action is based firmly on statements of fact which are demonstrably false and the attribution of statements that she never made," the complaint reads, arguing that she was depicted as "a vile and contemptible person," leading to "a torrent of online abuse, negative in-person interactions, and pejorative characterizations" targeting Williams.
The case makes use of remarks from Lowes, 39, and the show's creator Shonda Rhimes that seem to bolster the claim that they falsified some aspects of the character on purpose for the sake of the storyline.
It also contends that the identity of her character wasn't changed or masked, speculating that the decision was made in revenge for having sold her narrative to HBO. "The catastrophic damage to Williams' reputation was completely avoidable. Netflix gave fictional names to many of the real life protagonists in the Sorokin saga who appear in the Series, but it did not afford Williams the same protection. Instead, it used her real name and personal details (such as her employer, neighborhood and alma mater) in the Series and cast an actress who resembled her in many ways. Given the easy alternative of protecting her by using a fictional name, the decision to use her real name evidences Netflix's intent to harm her reputation, thereby justifying the imposition of punitive damages, especially if Netflix made that decision because Williams had sold her rights to the rival Sorokin project being developed by HBO," the lawsuit states.
Sorokin, who stole more than $200,000 from New York's elite and attempted to defraud millions more from her friends and banks, was found guilty of eight charges in 2019, including attempted grand larceny in the first degree, grand larceny in the second degree, grand larceny in the third degree, and theft of services. Sorokin was given a sentence of four to 12 years in jail, a $24,000 fine, and $198,956 in reparations, but she was released on good conduct after two years and is now being held in an ICE detention facility while her attorney works to get her deportation appealed.