Notorious art world scammer Anna Sorokin (aka Anna Delvey), who is best known for her infiltration of the New York art scene in the 2010s, was accused of racking up another tab she couldn’t afford.
According court documentsAudrey Thomas, the attorney Sorokin hired to appeal his fraud conviction and fight his deportation order, sued Sorokin for more than $150,000 in unpaid legal fees.
Thomas’ complaint says that after hiring her in 2020, Sorokin paid Thomas a retainer for overstaying his visa and appealing his conviction, but still owes up to $152,000. Thomas alleges his former client is trying to avoid accountability by filing his owl lawsuit, in which Sorokin claims that Thomas withheld audio recordings of his eviction hearings from subsequent counsel and stole the personal property of Sorokin. Thomas was fired by Sorokin in April 2022, citing “lax work habits”.
“[Sorokin] was able to stay in the United States because while being taken to the airport and literally sitting in the gate area with her things in trash bags, [Thomas and her firm] filed a summons and obtained a stay of deportation and thus the defendant was not deported from the United States,” Thomas’s complaint states.
Thomas has endured his own legal setbacks, disbarred in November 2022 for allegedly using $630,000 held in escrow from the sale of a client’s apartment to help promote his radio show and book, The ego has no place in the law. She swore in an affidavit that Sorokin was well aware of her legal issues, saying the convicted scammer hired her “because she believed that if someone fought for her [she] would be”.
Thomas’ complaint alleges five counts of fraud, unjust enrichment, breach of contract and other causes of action.
Sorokin, who is currently under house arrest in her apartment in Manhattan’s East Village, has embarked on a career as an artist while she was still incarcerated, making a profit of $340,000 from pencil and paper drawings she created to help pay her rent and secure the $10,000 bail needed for her stay at home.
Sorokin’s work is to be featured (under his assumed name) as part of Rockaway Art Weekin Queens’ waterfront community of the same name, June 16-18.
