Williams was one of the convicted fraudster’s many victims.
After Inventing Anna, Shonda Rhimes’ true-crime Netflix series about the life and crimes of convicted fraudster Anna Delvey, made the “fake German heiress” a media sensation once again, one of her former friends and victims, Rachel DeLoache Williams, is speaking out on Red Table Talk.
In ET’s exclusive preview of the all-new episode, Williams discloses the trauma she went through and the fallout that happened as a result of their “vacation from hell,” which was a disastrous trip to Morocco where she was convinced by Delvey to pay for much of the expenses.
“Anna could be sort of hard to read and she was definitely one of a kind. I ended up creating more empathy for her because everything had a backstory,” Williams says. “I don’t know how much of it was true, obviously. So, I would ask, ‘Do you talk to your parents much?’ And she would have some explanation about them having a business arrangement more than a close relationship. Or, I’d ask her about past friendships and she would have an explanation as to why they weren’t very close anymore.”
She adds, “It created what I now see as an artificial feeling of closeness ‘cause I felt like, ‘Oh, she’s confiding in me. I’m special.’”
Williams, who was once part of the fraudster’s inner circle, then explains it was that and a “combination of vulnerability coupled with the grandiosity” of Delvey’s lifestyle that initially drew her in and made her want to be friends.
Delvey, whose real name is Anna Sorokin, became known as the “fake German heiress” after New York magazine wrote a popular 2018 article revealing how she scammed some of the city’s high society, hotels, restaurants and banks between 2015 and 2017. And one of those victims was Williams, who was stuck with a $60,000 bill after Delvey was unable to produce funds during their trip to Morocco.
While Delvey was found guilty of larceny in 2019 and was sentenced to 4 to 12 years in prison, she never had to pay her former friend back. She was eventually released from prison in 2021 before being taken back into custody by ICE as she awaits being deported for overstaying her visa.
Williams, meanwhile, released a memoir documenting her accounts with Delvey and has spoken out against the Netflix series, which stars Julia Garner as Delvey and Katie Lowes as Williams, for “running a con woman’s PR.”
“Take it from someone who knows: This is the art of the con, a shell game that proffers irresistible thrills for low stakes, while a sleight of hand carries out the high-roller business unseen,” Williams wrote in an essay for Air Mail. “Netflix isn’t just putting out a fictional story… and putting money in her pocket.”
Delvey not only has responded to Williams’ claims, but she has also lashed out at Red Table Talk for “having trauma-porn star Rachel ’Karen-in-chief’ on the upcoming trauma & healing episode.”
Red Table Talk will stream on Wednesday, May 11 at 9 a.m. PT/ 12 p.m. ET on Facebook Watch.
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