The fake heiress, the Instagram shoot and the abandoned bunnies
By Neil Vigdor
New York: It was a scene befitting of a millennial influencer: the fake heiress known as Anna Delvey posing outside a Tribeca subway station with two bunnies on leashes — and an ankle monitor on her tanned leg.
But not long after, some bunnies that had been procured for the photo shoot with the would-be socialite were abandoned in Prospect Park in Brooklyn, unleashing a torrent of backlash towards the real Anna Sorokin, who in an interview with The New York Times on Monday said she was not responsible for procuring the rabbits and that she was “horrified” when she learned that they had been ditched.
Anna Delvey is on a mission to rehabilitate her image.Credit: AP
“I felt ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with it,” Sorokin, 34, said.
Sorokin, who pretended to be a wealthy German heiress and landed in prison for nearly four years for swindling Manhattan’s elite, spent 18 months behind bars in immigration detention for overstaying her visa. She has filled her time lately with photo shoots, publicity stunts and a stint on Dancing With the Stars.
On August 3, Sorokin posted the photo shoot with the bunnies on a New York City footpath. The bunny cradled in Sorokin’s arms was an 18-month-old Harlequin lop named Parker.
Still from a video reel posted to the Instagram account @theannadelvey during a photo shoot featuring Anna Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, using bunnies that were later found abandoned in Prospect Park in Brooklyn.Credit: Instagram
But the next day, Terry Chao, a web specialist who blogs about vegan causes in her spare time, spotted Parker in Prospect Park, recognising the rabbit from a Facebook group where some bunnies had recently been listed as available for adoption.
Parker had been hiding in bushes near the Endale Arch on August 4, not far from a cardboard box, said Chao, the online sleuth who helped rescue the rabbit and care for two others that had been part of the photo shoot. She and several other people used a pen with wire gates to help corral the bunnies.
Chao said she had also recognised the cardboard box from Sorokin’s Instagram feed and that it also had a Yonkers address on it, possibly connecting it to the family who put the bunnies up for adoption. The most obvious giveaway, Chao said, was that someone who had worked on the shoot had earlier reached out to her to scout out available bunnies.
“They went and got those bunnies for the shoot, basically as props, and then dumped them,” Chao said. “They don’t have any survival mechanisms like wild rabbits do.”
On Thursday, another bunny, Moon, was found not far from the same cardboard box.
Then on Sunday, a third bunny, Joaquin, was spotted in the park near a black carrier, Chao said. Joaquin and Moon are the offspring of Parker.
Putting the bunnies on leashes and one on its back in a photo, a position known as trancing that can be harmful to rabbits, brought further criticism from those who helped rescue the animals.
Who was in charge of the photo shoot, which took place outside the Franklin Street subway station in lower Manhattan, remains in dispute. The collaboration between Sorokin, who appeared in a striped, off-the-shoulder sun dress, and the man who photographed her has descended into finger-pointing in recent days.
Sorokin said she had not commissioned the shoot and had agreed to pose for photographer Jasper Egan Soloff. She said she had nothing to do with logistics and that another person involved in the shoot, Christian Batty, had said he could get the bunnies.
“Usually, when you collaborate with a photographer, you kind of let them direct you, because it’s also their creative work,” Sorokin said.
Gary Adelman, a lawyer for Soloff, disputed Sorokin’s telling of the arrangement.
“This was not Jasper’s photo shoot, and he did not arrange any of the details surrounding it,” Adelman said in a statement. He said Soloff had simply been hired to photograph Sorokin and that “Jasper had no knowledge or input as to how the bunnies were obtained or what happened to them after the photo shoot.”
Anna Sorokin, who claimed to be a German heiress, during her trial on grand larceny and theft of services charges, April 25, 2019, in New York. Credit: nna\BGossling
Batty, whom Chao said had inquired with her about obtaining bunnies, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a story on his Instagram account, which he appeared to have deleted, Batty appeared to have apologised.
“When I realised the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked,” he appeared to have written. “At 19, with no experience caring for animals, no pet-friendly housing, and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice. Believing, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them there, thinking that was my best option.”
Chao said on her Instagram that Batty had showed up to help catch Joaquin.
Chao said Sorokin’s explanation did not suffice and that she still bore responsibility for the abandonment of the bunnies, which she said appeared to be pretty healthy. Foster homes have been secured for all three rabbits, according to Chao, who said Sorokin had lashed out at her and other people who criticised her on social media.
“She had the power here to do something about this,” Chao said.
Sorokin said she had been unfairly stereotyped because of her past — her ruse inspired a Netflix series, in addition to leading to the prison sentence.
Sorokin, who was born in the former Soviet Union and has German citizenship, referred questions about her immigration status to her lawyer, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
When she learnt that the rabbits had been abandoned, Sorokin offered to try to help find them homes, she said. In an Instagram story on Monday, Sorokin said she had donated $US1000 ($1535) to the group All About Rabbits Rescue.
Sorokin bristled at the suggestion that she would harm animals and said that she does not eat meat.
“I eat fish,” she said.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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