Fake heiress and convicted scammer Anna Sorokin is suing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) after she allegedly caught coronavirus following denial of access to a booster vaccination.
Sorokin, 31, along with three other detainees, filed the suit Tuesday alleging federal authorities at the Orange County Correctional Facility in Goshen, New York violated their constitutional rights as ‘medically vulnerable individuals’ and engaged in ‘unlawful discrimination’ by refusing to issue the shot.
The famed Soho Grifter claims she tested positive for COVID-19 in mid-January after she made multiple requests for a booster shot and never received a response, according to the complaint obtained by DailyMail.com.
She also alleges she continues to experience lingering effects of the virus – including fatigue, coughing, brain fog and shortness of breath – and still seeks the jab ‘as she is concerned about getting sick from COVID-19 if she contracts it again’.
Sorokin, who is fighting deportation to Germany, was placed in ICE custody last year after she allegedly overstayed her visa.
The Russian-born scammer – whose story inspired the newly released Netflix series Inventing Anna – swindled banks and New York’s downtown socialite scene out of thousands of dollars between 2013 to 2017 while she lived in Manhattan and posed as Anna Delvey, a German heiress who had a $67million trust fund back in Europe.
Sorokin skipped out on exorbitant restaurant and hotel bills, and in one case, put a friend in an awkward position putting $62,000 – more than she made in a year -on their credit card to cover her expenses.
In April of 2019, Sorokin was convicted of four counts of theft services, three counts of grand larceny, and one count of attempted grand larceny. She was sentenced to a minimum of four years in prison, but was out in February of 2021.
Anna Sorokin, along with three other ICE detainees, is suing federal authorities after she allegedly caught COVID-19 at the facility after having been denied a booster shot. She is pictured in court in May 2019
The complaint alleges ICE violated the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights to substantive due process by failing to provide conditions of reasonable health and safety to people in detention.
Sorokin and the other plaintiffs accuse federal authorities of creating conditions posing ‘unreasonable risk of serious harm’ and argue officials ‘knew or should have known’ that ‘medically vulnerable people in ICE detention facilities who have not received a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot in accordance with CDC guidance, face an unreasonable risk to their health.’
The suit continues, claiming ICE has ‘recklessly disregarded their serious medical need for a COVID-19 vaccine booster shot.’
The plaintiffs also accused ICE of failing to provide ‘reasonable accommodations’ to persons with disabilities, citing their medical and psychological conditions – which include HIV, chronic kidney infection, and post-traumatic stress disorder – are covered under the Americans with Disabilities Act.
It is unclear which conditions Sorokin has, however the suit alleges all plaintiffs are suffering from ailments that ‘substantially impair major life activities’ and pose a risk that makes them ‘more likely than others to suffer serious illness or death from COVID-19’.
Sorokin and her fellow plaintiffs are seeking an injunction ordering ICE to immediately provide them with a COVID booster shot.
They also want a directive for all ICE detention centers to issue booster shots to all eligible detainees as well as provide adequate education, pre-vaccination consultation and documentation in accordance with CDC guidance.
Sorokin, according to the complaint, ‘has not heard of any other detained people getting boosters’ at the Orange County Correctional Facility and says she has ‘not seen any information distributed about boosters’.
She ‘feels that the staff have left her and other detainees unprotected in the facility’ and would like to see change implemented at the facility.
The group is also seeking financial retribution to cover the cost of their counsel and legal fees.
Sorokin and the other plaintiffs claim ICE violated their constitutional rights as ‘medically vulnerable individuals’ and engaged in ‘unlawful discrimination’ by refusing to issue the shot. Sorokin is pictured in New York City in February 2021
Sorokin’s attorney did not immediately respond to DailyMail.com’s request for comment, however, the American Civil Liberties Union – which filed the complaint on behalf of the plaintiffs – issued a statement to Reuters Wednesday saying Sorokin’s involvement in the suit ‘brings additional attention to the problem’.
‘We were not looking to put fireworks around her name,’ ACLU attorney Arthur Spitzer said, adding that Sorokin was referred to their agency by another nonprofit.
‘We thought to the extent that her involvement brings additional attention to the problem, it’s a plus for everyone and not just for her.’
Sorokin, in a statement provided to the news outlet, reiterated that she fears contracting COVID again.
‘I joined this lawsuit because everyone who wants a booster shot to protect themselves should be able to get one,’ she said.
Last month, Sorokin penned an open letter from her COVID isolation while in ICE custody whining about feeling like an afterthought, not being able to watch Inventing Anna and admitting she made ‘questionable choices.’
In the letter published by Insider, Sorokin laments about being held behind bars after being ruled ‘a continuous danger to the community’ and insist that she was fully and legally self-sufficient after being released in 2021.
The 31-year-old notes that she paid off her criminal restitution and ‘accomplished more in the six weeks they deemed were long enough for me to remain free than some people have in the last two years’ although she does not specify how.
Sorokin also notes that she is appealing her criminal conviction in an attempt to clear her name. ‘I did not break a single one of New York state’s or ICE’s parole rules,’ she adamantly states.
She mocks the immigration judge’s ruling that ‘even if released from detention and ordered to report regularly to ICE, the respondent would have the ability and inclination to continue to commit fraudulent and dishonest acts’ and claim that she ‘failed to demonstrate remorse.’
Sorokin also complains about having to be put in ‘medical isolation’ for contracting COVID ‘even though there’s nothing medical about it.’
