By Kaitlyn Huamani
LOS ANGELES (AP) --Anna Sorokin, the con artist who was convicted of swindling banks, hotels and friends in 2019 after falsely building a reputation as a wealthy German heiress named Anna Delvey, has found her newest venture: “Dancing With the Stars.”
Described as the “notorious ankle bracelet fashionista” in a press release, Sorokin was announced Wednesday on “Good Morning America” along with the likes of former NBA star Dwight Howard, actor Tori Spelling and Jenn Tran, “The Bachelorette” lead whose season ended in heartbreak just Tuesday night. Tran, the first Asian American “Bachelorette,” was a contestant on Joey Graziadei’s season of “The Bachelor” — and he, too, will be vying for the trophy.
Complicating Sorokin’s latest starring role is the ankle bracelet she’s worn since October 2022, when she started her house arrest — though the show appears to be leaning into it with a promo image of Sorokin in a glittering dress and an ankle monitor on her leg. While she was released from prison in February 2021, immigration authorities picked her up shortly after she got out, claiming she overstayed her visa and must be returned to her native Germany. The “Inventing Anna” inspiration was in ICE custody for over a year before a judge cleared the way for her to switch to home confinement in October 2022 while she fights the deportation case.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement has not returned requests for comment regarding changes to Sorokin’s house arrest conditions to accommodate filming in the Los Angeles area. Sorokin’s spokesperson, Juda Engelmayer, confirmed Tuesday that she could travel within 70 miles (112 kilometers) of her home base and anywhere in the five boroughs of New York City under previous house arrest conditions, but could not comment on any changes to those rules.
While under house arrest, she had to abide by the immigration judge’s condition that she does not use social media, but Sorokin kept busy. She started a podcast —”The Anna Delvey Show”— that featured guests like comedian Whitney Cummings and technology journalist Taylor Lorenz who traveled to her apartment in New York’s East Village to record.
“So many people became famous for bad things and were able to kind of segue it into something different,” she said in a June 2023 interview with The Associated Press.
“Dancing With the Stars” is the first mainstream way Sorokin is attempting to accomplish that goal. She’ll be competing in the upcoming 33rd season, which premieres Sept. 17 on ABC and Disney+.
Sorokin will be joining Team USA’s breakout star from the Olympics: Stephen Nedoroscik — better known to the internet as “Pommel Horse Guy.” The 25-year-old who won two bronze medals in Paris was the first contestant announced, in August fresh off his Olympics’ high. He became an internet sensation thanks to memes of his preparation before competing and of his Superman-like transformation before hitting the floor.
Another U.S. Olympian will be competing: Ilona Maher, the rugby player and bronze medalist who became a social media darling for her funny TikToks and body positivity content.
The series hosted by Alfonso Riberio and Julianne Hough also announced that Ezra Sosa, a previous member of the show’s troupe of dancers, will be among those promoted to a “pro” this season; he is partnered with Sorokin. Artem Chigvintsev, who was arrested last week on a domestic violence charge, will not be return as a pro.
The full list of celebrities competing on the upcoming season of “Dancing With the Stars”:
1. former Super Bowl champion Danny Amendola
2. Anna Sorokin, who is being billed as “Anna Delvey,” per the show’s release
3. Joey Graziadei from “The Bachelor”
4. former NBA champion Dwight Howard
5. Chandler Kinney, star of “Pretty Little Liars: Original Sin”
6. rugby player and Olympian Ilona Maher
7. model Brooks Nader
8. gymnast and Olympian Stephen Nedoroscik
9. Phaedra Parks, attorney and “Real Housewives of Atlanta” star
10. Eric Roberts, prolific movie actor, brother of Julia and father of Emma
11. Tori Spelling of “Beverly Hills 90210”
12. Jenn Tran from “The Bachelorette”
13. Reginald VelJohnson of “Family Matters” and “Die Hard”
Harvey Weinstein hit with new sex crime charge in New York
Harvey Weinstein pleaded not guilty Wednesday to a new sex crime charge in New York, as he awaits retrial in his landmark #MeToo case.
Details of the new allegations were not immediately available. He was charged with committing a criminal sex act.
The jailed ex-movie mogul has long maintained that any sexual activity was consensual.
Prosecutors revealed last week that Weinstein had been indicted on additional sex crime charges that weren't part of the case that led to his now-overturned 2020 conviction. But the new indictment was sealed until his arraignment.
Prosecutors have said that the grand jury heard evidence of up to three alleged assaults — two in hotels in the Tribeca neighborhood and one at a lower Manhattan residential building. The purported incidents took place from the mid-2000s to 2016, prosecutors said.
But it's not clear whether any of those allegations underlie the new indictment.
While bracing for the new charges, Weinstein also is awaiting retrial after New York state's highest court this spring overturned his 2020 conviction on rape and sexual assault charges involving two women. The high court, called the Court of Appeals, ordered a new trial, which is tentatively scheduled to begin Nov. 12.
The Court of Appeals ruled that the then-trial judge unfairly allowed testimony against him based on allegations that were not part of the case. That judge's term expired in 2022, and he is no longer on the bench.
Prosecutors have said they'll seek to fold the new charges into the retrial, but Weinstein's lawyers say it should be a separate case.
Weinstein, who also was convicted in 2022 in a Los Angeles rape case, remains behind bars while awaiting his New York retrial.
Weinstein,... Read More