Anna Sorokin, who is best known as Anna Delvey, did not know the bunnies used in her New York City photoshoot were abandoned in a nearby park after the shoot reached its conclusion. The notorious con artist was not aware of the behavior of her assistant.
It is a truly unfortunate sequence of events with a happy ending.
All three of the bunnies were rescued over the course of a week. One of them is still in need of a new home, as of this writing, but they are all in great care after initially being left to fend for themselves.
Who is Anna Delvey?
Delvey, whose legal last name is Sorokin, is best known as the fake New York City heiress. She became infamous in the late 2010s for conning banks, hotels, business and individuals out of hundreds of thousands of dollars with a false claim that she had access to a multi-million dollar trust fund.
Fake financial documents were used to substantiate her claims. “Delvey” also used those documents, as well as false checks and forged wide transfer confirmations, to secure large loans from banks and to trick her “friends” and “investors” into paying out big sums of cash.
Her fraudulent behavior allowed her to infiltrate the elite social circles of Manhattan. It also opened a lot of doors on the professional level.
The entire thing unraveled in 2017.
Sorokin was convicted of multiple charges, including theft of services and grand larceny, in 2019. She was sentenced to four-to-12 years in prison but she is currently out on house arrest.
Bunnies are not props for a photoshoot!
Sorokin, who still goes by Delvey on social media, posted a series of photos on Instagram over the weekend. The 34-year-old convicted con artist posed (in an ankle monitor) with two bunnies on a leash.
There were actually two posts!
Not too long thereafter, a domestic bunny was found in the wild at Prospect Park near Grand Army Plaza. The connection between the bunny and Delvey was not known at the time and the first bunny was not alone. There were three different rabbits found in the park.
As it would turn out, the abandoned bunnies were the exact same bunnies used as props by Delvey in her latest post to Instagram. They were dumped in the park after the shoot was over.
Who knew?!
People on social media were the first to discover the link between the bunnies and the fake New York City heiress. They immediately flooded her comment section with outrage.
However, Delvey continued to insist that she did not leave the bunnies to fend for themselves and threatened legal action against anyone who said otherwise.
“I will find and sue dimwits like yourself who simply refuse to accept that the bunnies that were borrowed for our shoot are safe at home with their owners,” she replied to the backlash in the comment section.
That was not accurate. The bunnies were not safe at home with their owners.
The fake New York City heiress is not at fault.
Anna Delvey’s assistant dumped the bunnies at Prospect Park without her knowledge. He did not know what else to do after he was presented with three animals he could not take care of.
“Hi Everyone, I need to be completely honest,” he posted on Facebook. “I lied to you, Anna, and the rest of the team about the rabbits. The truth is, I did abandon them in the park. It was wrong, cruel and inexcusable, and I take full responsibility for my actions.
“When I realized the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked. 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. That belief was wrong, and I regret it deeply.
“I am relieved to hear that the rabbits are now safe, but I deeply regret the harm I caused. I also want to be clear that Anna and Jasper had no knowledge of my actions until this afternoon, and I ask that any mention of them be removed from the situation.”
The mystery is solved. The bunnies are safe.
Where are the bunnies?
A woman with the username @veganchao on Instagram was primarily responsible for the bunny rescue. She made sure to save them from the park before she knew of the connection to the photoshoot.
As more information came to light, she connected all of the dots to find out their original owner, how they got to Delvey, etc. The assistant who abandoned the bunnies actually reached out to her prior to the photoshoot to inquire about her own bunny before he ultimately went in a different direction.
The wellbeing of the bunnies was always at the forefront when it came to Vegan Chao’s rescue. The bunny savior took them in as fosters and worked tirelessly to find them a new home. (One of them is still in need of a forever home as of this writing!)
Here is the full story in her own words:
When push comes to shove, Anna Delvey is vindicated from guilt when it comes to the abandonment of the bunnies. This entire situation is not great for optics, especially when it comes to how the bunnies were treated after the shoot, but she did not know her assistant lied to her! She did not know they were dumped in the park. She was not lying when she doubled down on their safety in the comments.