Convicted thief Anna Sorokin, whose life and crimes are the subject of the Netflix drama "Inventing Anna" said she is "disturbed" and "horrified" after three rabbits used in her photo shoot were dumped in a nearby New York park.
Sorokin, also known as Anna Delvey, gained notoriety following a widely publicized trial. Posing as a wealthy heiress, she conned Manhattan's elite through a fabricated trust fund. Recently, she posed for a photo outside the Tribeca subway station with a black ankle monitor and holding two leashed rabbits. She was required under the terms of her 2022 prison release to wear the ankle monitor.
Social media soon linked the abandoned rabbits found in Prospect Park in Brooklyn with Sorokin's photo shoot.
"These animals were left in a park to die right after this photo shoot. Living things are not your photo props," one person commented on Sorokin's Instagram post.
"Will you be making a donation to the overwhelmed rabbit rescues in NYC?" Voters for Animal Rights asked.
Commenting on the ordeal, Sorokin said she was not responsible for the rabbits but was "horrified" to learn they had been dumped.
"I felt ashamed and embarrassed to be associated with it," she said, according to The Guardian.
Last week, Terry Chao found an 18-month-old Harlequin lop hiding in bushes close to a cardboard box linked to Sorokin's photo shoot. She told The New York Times that another rabbit appeared in the same spot on Thursday, and a third was discovered Sunday beside a black carrier bag.
Through his lawyer, photographer Jasper Egan Soloff told the outlet that he was not responsible for the shoot and had no knowledge of the rabbits' origins or care.
Another person connected to the photo shoot acknowledged fault and issued an apology in an Instagram post that has since been removed.
"When I realized the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked. At 19, with no experience caring for animals, no pet-friendly housing, and no knowledge of available resources, I felt overwhelmed and made the worst possible choice," he reportedly wrote, according to The Guardian.
"Believing, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them there, thinking that was my best option."
He said the rabbits were now in foster care with someone in New York, while Sorokin stated that after discovering they'd been left behind, she offered to help place them in new homes.
Zoe Papadakis ✉
Zoe Papadakis is a Newsmax writer based in South Africa with two decades of experience specializing in media and entertainment. She has been in the news industry as a reporter, writer and editor for newspapers, magazine and websites.