Fake heiress Anna Sorokin may not receive profits from lucrative Netflix deal due to 'Son of Sam'
New York: Thanks to "Son of Sam" David Berkowitz, fake heiress Anna Sorokin may not be raking in royalties from a lucrative Netflix deal anytime soon.
According to the New York Post, the state Attorney General's Office is invoking New York’s “Son of Sam Law” to convince a judge that all the profits from the upcoming Shonda Rhimes-produced drama about Sorokin’s case should go towards her victims.
Recently filed court papers show that Assistant Attorney General Adele Durand wrote to the judge: “The monies sought to be preserved herein, constitute 'profits from a crime.’”
Sorokin bamboozled a series of banks and hotels of hundreds of thousands of dollars under the name Anna Delvey, claiming to be a German heiress worth $67 million. During a sensational trial prior to her conviction in May, a judge criticized Sorokin for being more concerned about her looks than the charges she was facing, before sentencing her to four to 12 years in jail.
Sorokin had signed the Netflix deal while cooling her heels on Rikers Island, long before her trial began in June 2018.
According to reports, the first payout from the deal, to the tune of $30,000, went straight to her lawyer Todd Spodek to cover legal fees.
While the AG's office is not challenging that payment, prosecutors are invoking the state law so a judge can block all other disbursements. 'Son of Sam' law prevents criminals from making money off their crimes. The law, which was named after notorious serial killer Berkowitz following his shocking murder spree in the late 1970s, was passed and signed into law in 1977.
Now, an additional $70,000 to Sorokin from her Netflix deal -- which was due on June 8 -- has been kept on hold until the outcome of the suit.
According to the contract, Netflix was slated to pay Sorokin a $7,500 royalty in addition to a $15,000 consulting fee for each episode, aside from the said amount.
Justice Diane Kiesel signed a restitution order totaling almost $200,000 after Sorokin's conviction. According to the report, she owes City National Bank $100,000, which she obtained while trying to negotiate a $22 million loan to open a private art club in Manhattan.
“As a representative of the crime victim, I have a valid claim against, and intend to sue immediately … this convicted person for damages caused by such crimes,” bank lawyer Peter Hebert wrote in an affidavit for the lawsuit.
Sorokin's highly publicized Manhattan trial grabbed international headlines, and was covered by TV crews from as far away as Germany and Russia. During the trial, the faux heiress got a celebrity stylist to select her courtroom attire, donning pieces from Victoria Beckman, Miu Miu, and Yves Saint Laurent.
At the time, Sorokin threw sobbing temper tantrums over the choice of designer clothing and delayed the trial for hours on at least three separate occasions.
But the jury found Sorokin not guilty of promising Rachel Williams, an erstwhile pal and former Vanity Fair photo editor, an all-expenses-paid trip to Morocco before sticking her with a $70,000 bill of charge.
However, Williams subsequently sold her story to HBO and Simon & Schuster in a deal worth a staggering $600,000.