Print and
online discussion of the Netflix limited series “Inventing Anna” is chiefly
about the character of Anna Sorokin, alias Anna Delvey, of high society, high
life, big lenders and their lawyers,
splashy journalists and the doubtful judgment and ethics of all the above. In
these respects the public has been eager to learn how much of “the whole story
is completely true,” and what are the “parts that are totally made up.” I am here
interested in these latter questions, but not much in the doings and sayings of
Anna, her friends, and enablers, or the hotels, restaurants, and resorts of
their cavorts. Instead, my interest is in the court case, its investigation,
prosecution, and defense.
I was for a year an Assistant District Attorney in the Frauds Bureau of the Manhattan DA’s office, and before that a member of the Career Criminal Bureau where in my first court appearance I second seated our then Assistant Bureau Chief, Cy Vance. So my perspective might have some prosecution bias, although I subsequently defended cases against my old office and in between taught law for several years at NYU.
