'Inventing Anna': Rachel Williams sues Netflix for 'vile' portrayal in hit series
Sorokin, also know as Anna Delvey, posed as a German heiress to scam New York City's elite
Anna Sorokin's ex-bestie Rachel DeLoache Williams hit Netflix with a defamation lawsuit Monday over her portrayal in the dramatized series based on the con woman's infamous swindles.
"Inventing Anna" follows Sorokin — who pretended to be a German heiress with a $60 million fortune — as she infiltrates New York society and rips off banks, businesses and her friends to fund her lavish lifestyle of designer clothes and luxury vacations.
The series falsely portrays Williams, 34, then a Vanity Fair photo editor, as a "greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person," wrote attorney Alexander Rufus-Isaacs in the complaint.
The suit, filed in U.S. District Court in Delaware, seeks unspecified damages for false light invasion of privacy and defamation.
A photo combination of Anna Sorokin in Manhattan Supreme Court during her 2019 larceny trial and her ex-best friend, Rachel DeLoache Williams at SiriusXM Studios in New York City. (Timothy Clary/ Astrid Stawiarz via Getty / Getty Images)
The complaint suggests that Netflix chose to render Williams' character as a "vile and contemptible person" because she'd sold the rights to her story to the rival network HBO.
Producers changed identifying details for other characters in the Netflix series – but not for Williams whose real name, neighborhood, employer and alma mater were used.
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The actress cast to play her, Katie Lowes, even looks like her, the suit alleges.
This decision by Netflix has led to "catastrophic damage to Williams' reputation" and exposed her to a "torrent of online abuse, negative in-person interactions, and pejorative characterizations in podcasts," Rufus-Isaacs wrote.
The logo of the streaming service Netflix. (Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images / Getty Images)
Williams profited handsomely off her ill-fated friendship with Sorokin, earning a $300,000 advance from publisher Simon & Schuster for her book "My Friend Anna: the True Story of a Fake Heiress" and another $35,000 from HBO.
Sorokin was convicted in 2019 of grand larceny and other charges for stealing $200,000 from businesses and for fraudulently trying to score a $22 million loan to launch a Manhattan art club.
But the jury acquitted her of the count related to Williams' claim that the wannabe socialite invited her on an all-expenses-paid trip to Morocco then stuck her with the $62,000 tab.
Anna Sorokin with her attorney Todd Spodek in Manhattan Supreme Court April 11, 2019. (Timothy Clary/ Getty / Getty Images)
Williams broke down in sobs during her testimony, telling jurors that the crushing credit card debt left her unable to pay her bills or rent.
Prior to the Morocco getaway, Williams said that she and Sorokin hung out almost every day, and her mysterious pal would treat her to lavish meals at the city’s top restaurants, spa treatments and personal training sessions.
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Sorokin was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison but was released early on good behavior. She's currently in ICE custody battling a deportation order to Germany for overstaying her U.S. visa.
Netflix didn't immediately return a request for comment.