New York State is reportedly suing Netflix to stop it paying fake heiress Anna Delvey more than $100,000 for her story
- Netflix offered money to Anna Delvey - the woman who pretended to be a German heiress to swindle banks, hotels, and socialites - to make a TV series about her.
- The fee would be $100,000 for her story, as well as a $15,000-per-episode consulting fee and $7,500 in royalties, the New York Post reported Monday, citing recently-filed legal papers.
- New York State has now filed lawsuits to stop Netflix from paying Delvey (whose real name is Anna Sorokin) her share, the New York Post and New York Times reported.
- The state wants to redistribute those funds to Delvey's victims instead, the Times reported.
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New York State has filed a lawsuit to stop Netflix from paying fake heiress Anna Delvey more than $100,000 for an upcoming TV series about her extraordinary scam, The New York Post and New York Times reported, both citing recent court papers.
Delvey - real name Anna Sorokin - perpetrated a years-long swindle where she pretended to be a German heiress, and tricked banks into giving her more than $22 million in loans, as well as tricking bankers, hotels, and socialites.
She was sentenced to at least four years in prison this May after a local jury convicted her on eight charges of theft, larceny, and attempted theft and larceny. She is currently in prison on Rikers Island.
Netflix acquired the rights to Delvey's life story, her lawyer Todd Spodek told INSIDER's Jacob Shamsian in April.
The deal was signed in June 2018, long before her trial began earlier this year, the Post reported on Monday.
The streaming giant said in its contract it would pay $100,000 for her story, as well as a $15,000-per-episode consulting fee and $7,500 in royalties after the show is created, the Post reported on Monday, citing court papers.
The series will be made in collaboration with Shondaland, the production company owned by the award-winning writer Shonda Rhimes.
New York State is now trying to stop Delvey from receiving these payments. Here are the latest moves, according to the Times and the Post:
- In May, the office sought to block a $70,000 payment from Netflix that Delvey was supposed to receive in June.
- Attorney General Letitia James is now trying to stop Sorokin from getting the $15,000-per-episode.
- An Albany judge temporarily ordered Netflix not to pay Delvey until it settled the issue through litigation, except for $30,000 for her attorney's unpaid legal fees.
The state cited the "Son of Sam" law, which is designed to stop criminals profiting from publicity around their crimes, the newspapers reported.
"The monies sought to be preserved herein, constitute 'profits from a crime,'" Assistant Attorney General Adele Durand wrote in recently-filed court papers cited by the Post.
Durand said the proceeds of Delvey's Netflix deal should instead be given to the New York State Office of Victim Services, for redistribution to the people impacted by her grifting, the Times reported, citing Durand's filing.
Spodek, Delvey's lawyer, told the Times: "It has always been Ms. Sorokin's intention to pay back her victims."
"I anticipate resolving the issue without further litigation," he added.