Netflix Loses Bid to Dismiss ‘Inventing Anna’ Defamation Lawsuit

A defamation lawsuit against Netflix over its miniseries Inventing Anna — about the “Soho grifter” Anna Delvey, a.k.a. Anna Sorokin — is set to go to trial after a judge rejected the streaming service’s bid to dismiss the case.

In August 2022, six months after the Shonda Rhimes-produced miniseries debuted, former Vanity Fair photo editor and Delvey’s friend Rachel DeLoache Williams filed the lawsuit against Netflix, citing 16 instances in which she claimed she was defamed and vilified in Inventing Anna.

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Most notably, the miniseries posited that Williams abandoned Delvey during a trip to Morocco — Delvey knew beforehand that Williams had to travel to France for work — and that she stopped being friends with Delvey amid the con artist’s financial issues.

“Williams did not stop being friends with Sorokin because Sorokin was having problems in Morocco, but rather because she subsequently discovered on her return to New York that Sorokin was a liar and a con artist,” the lawsuit said.

The miniseries’ portrayal of Williams, her lawsuit stated, made her appear as “a greedy, snobbish, disloyal, dishonest, cowardly, manipulative and opportunistic person,” when in reality, Williams was also a victim of Delvey’s scheme. Netflix, in an attempt to dismiss the lawsuit, said their interpretation of Williams was open to “literary license” and protected by the First Amendment, Variety reported. Inventing Anna even bore the disclaimer, “This story is completely true. Except for the parts that are totally made up.”

However, the judge disagreed with that argument, focusing specifically on the abandonment allegation. “As Williams alleges, the statements indicate that Williams ‘abandoned Sorokin when Sorokin was alone, depressed and in trouble in Morocco,’” the judge wrote. “And whether Sorokin was in a troubled state and Williams left her at that point can be proven true or false.”

If the defamation lawsuit does go to trial, among the witnesses so far subpoenaed by Williams’ lawyers include actress Katie Lowes — who played Williams in the miniseries — and Delvey herself.

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