Anna Sorokin Ex-Lawyer Audrey Thomas Disbarred for Scamming $600K

• A attorney who at the time represented scammer Anna Sorokin (AKA Anna Delvey) has been disbarred.
• A exclusive referee observed Audrey Thomas took $600,000 from an aged shopper.
• Sorokin had presently fired Thomas but mocked her in new artwork provided to Insider.

A lawyer who earlier represented the convicted scammer Anna Sorokin has been disbarred by the point out of New York soon after a exclusive referee found she was working her own rip-off in which she took all-around $600,000 from an aged shopper, court filings demonstrate.

In a assertion to Insider, Sorokin supplied an illustration of a mock guide cover titled “How to Get Disbarred in 10 Times” and stated she is happy Thomas can no lengthier characterize other shoppers.

“I’m joyful that the real tale is currently being instructed and shedding mild on my troubles,” Sorokin explained to Insider. “I am generally comforted that she can’t do injury to any individual else’s case and existence.”

Anna Sorokin

The lawyer, Audrey A. Thomas, was disbarred on November 9 in excess of a obtaining that she misappropriated cash a consumer starting up in 2013, according to court records considered by Insider. The disciplinary listening to view, designed community on Tuesday, requested Thomas to desist from practicing regulation and said she would be disbarred.

Thomas has pleaded not guilty to prison expenses stemming from the allegation.

Thomas previously represented Sorokin in the attractiveness of her legal case and for immigration problems.

Sorokin is finest recognised for pulling off her personal con, which was chronicled in the Netflix clearly show “Inventing Anna.” She was convicted in 2019 for pretending to be a wealthy European heiress named “Anna Delvey” to rip-off economic institutions and accommodations out of hundreds of countless numbers of bucks. On completing her New York point out prison sentence in February 2021, Immigration and Customs Enforcement brought her again into custody and attempted and deport her again to Germany, in which she’s a legal resident.

Sorokin fired Thomas before this calendar year, annoyed by the deficiency of progress on her immigration and felony attraction cases and simply because Thomas refused to do the job all through the month of April, which she described as her “birthday month.”

Thomas explained to Insider in a statement on Wednesday, following this report was initially printed, that she would get the past snicker. 

“Just keep in mind I could not be admitted to observe regulation any longer but there is certainly nothing at all to end me from showing up professional se,” she said in a textual content message “Notify Anna I stated he who laughs previous laughs the greatest. I AM still Audrey A Thomas AKA Sandy!!!!!!!!”

Thomas’ disbarment very last week was in excess of a fully diverse situation that dates back again approximately a 10 years. 

According to the disbarment purchase, Rhea Murra hired Thomas in 2013 to help provide an apartment in Brooklyn. Thomas had access to two escrow accounts that held dollars from the sale.

Bank records reviewed by the specific referee appointed to oversee the grievance versus Thomas showed that, above the class of a 12 months, the now-former lawyer siphoned extra than $630,000 in resources to different financial institution accounts, such as one particular that belonged to her law organization.

Thomas explained she applied the cash to boost herself “as an author and radio demonstrate host” and for lawful bills but that Murray signed off on her use of the funds due to “a longstanding own romance.” (Thomas is the author of the guide “Ego Has No Put in the Legislation.”)

But in a grievance listening to, Murray denied giving Thomas authorization to consider the proceeds from the sale and testified that she exclusively asked Thomas to use the income to assistance spend down mortgages on other properties she and her loved ones members owned — some thing Thomas never ever adopted by means of on.

Thomas promised to pay out back the cash — but never ever adopted by means of

Two of Murray’s daughters testified in a grievance listening to — just one of 15 in the scenario that took position among July 2019 and December 2020 — that they confronted Thomas about the lacking money from the escrow accounts in 2016 and that Thomas “confessed to them that she invested their mother’s income in her possess name” and “urged them not to pursue the make any difference even more.”

Thomas promised to repay them in installments but stopped adhering to the payment plan after a number of months, getting only reimbursed $31,300. Disciplinary proceedings in opposition to Thomas began in 2018, and the loved ones members in no way acquired the remaining balance of about $600,000 they have been owed, according to the buy.

The Queens District Attorney’s workplace took Thomas into custody in July 2019 on second-diploma larceny prices for the alleged plan. She pleaded not responsible and is awaiting trial. Thomas’s criminal protection lawyer didn’t respond to Insider’s ask for for comment.

Whilst Thomas experienced hoped to experience no extra than censure from the grievance proceedings, the Grievance Committee resolved on revoking Thomas’ legislation license in the point out, supplied that the customer the committee discovered Thomas to have taken money from was a senior citizen and Thomas confirmed a “absence of regret and acceptance of responsibility,” the committee stated. 

Insider was not able to get to Murray for comment.

Alexi Rosenfeld/Getty Images for ABA

Thomas is also in difficulty over her function with Sorokin. Thomas told Insider in an interview in April that Sorokin was an “ungrateful bitch” who serves as a reminder to “eschew the evil that she attempts to inspire in me and all who check out to support her.”

A phalanx of new legal professionals correctly sprung Sorokin from immigration custody in Oct, and she continues to be less than dwelling arrest in Manhattan as her legal enchantment and immigration situation progress.

But when her new legal defense staff sought to attain information from Sorokin’s trial to put together for her attraction, they mentioned Thomas refused to hand them about.

Duncan Levin, Sorokin’s appellate law firm, filed an ethics grievance against Thomas. Sorokin also sued Thomas in September, asking she be held in contempt of court docket following she refused to comply with an order from New York Supreme Court docket Justice Diane Kiesel, who oversaw Sorokin’s felony trial, to transfer the files to Levin.

“We are happy that Ms. Thomas can no longer do to other clients what she did to my shopper, Anna Sorokin,” Levin told Insider Tuesday.

This story has been updated with a response from Thomas.