She’s no more of a fraud than Frank Sinatra.
At least that’s what faux heiress Anna Sorokin’s lawyer told Manhattan jurors Tuesday in his closing statement.
Defense lawyer Todd Spodek argued that Sorokin, much like the iconic crooner, faked her own success until she could make it.
Spodek reasoned that Sinatra’s press agency paid women to show up at his shows and swoon over him to drum up interest early in his career.
Spodek said Sorokin applied the same strategy — posing as a posh German heiress to score a $22 million loan to supposedly fund an elite Manhattan social club.
“Sinatra made a brand-new start of it in New York, just as Miss Sorokin did,” the lawyer told rapt jurors in Manhattan Supreme Court.
As he spoke, Sorokin coyly stared at the panel wearing a choker and a flouncy white dress.
It’s not the first time Spodek has referenced Ol’ Blue Eyes.
Last month, the lawyer used lyrics from Sinatra’s signature “New York, New York” tune to argue that his client was just a humble girl trying to make it in the big city.
Gilded grifter Sorokin clambered up to the highest echelons of New York society and managed to mingle with bankers, hoteliers and real estate tycoons. Aware that her lowly station would lead to society snubbing, Sorokin pretended be a woman named Anna Delvey with a 60 million euro fortune.
“You have to put yourself in her shoes, the shoes of a 25-year-old German national who managed to infiltrate a world that very few of us ever see,” said Spodek, who insisted that Sorokin had no intention of stealing from anyone.
Spodek acknowledged that she lied about her identity to fly on private jets and live in five-star hotels.
But the wide-eyed scamstress believed she’d eventually make it big and pay off her mounting debts, he said.
“Every day you hear about people risking it all for business, taking chances, taking advantages of opportunity, isn’t that what Miss Sorokin did?” he said, conceding her conduct was “unorthodox, unethical, perhaps, not appropriate” but not a crime.
She’s charged with ripping off $275,000 from banks, hotels and friends and pretending to be extravagantly wealthy to obtain a $22 million loan for an exclusive Park Avenue South social club.
Her ex-pal, Rachel Williams, testified that Sorokin invited her on an all-expenses-paid trip to Morocco and then stuck her with the nearly $70,000 tab.
But Spodek said that prior to the trip, “Miss Sorokin was subsidizing [Williams’] entire life,” paying for expensive dinners, personal trainers and spa treatments.
He called Williams an opportunist who used the ill-fated trip to sell an article to Vanity Fair, a book to Simon & Schuster and her story to HBO — potentially earning more than $635,000 on the deals.
“Miss Williams deserves an Oscar for her performance here,” said Spodek, referencing Williams’ repeated sobbing fits on the stand. “The more outrageous her story, the greater return on her investment.”
Two jurors nodded vigorously.
Assistant DA Catherine McCaw countered in her summation that most of Spodek’s argument was irrelevant to Sorokin’s criminal conduct.
She said the evidence was overwhelming that Sorokin lied and cheated to support an outsized lifestyle, staying in the most luxurious hotels, eating at the finest restaurant and enjoying getaways fit for royalty.
McCaw said Sorokin created fake financial records and identity documents and posed as bank representatives and accountants to perpetuate the expansive fraud.
“She knew if she told people she had this money, they would trust her, that eventually she would be good for the deal,” McCaw said. “In fact, she had no ability to pay and no intention to pay.”
The prosecutor’s summation continues after lunch.