New York, New York - Fake heiress Anna Sorokin says she chose to fight deportation back to Germany because she is "trying to fix what I've done wrong."

The now 31-year-old con-artist, whose exploits inspired the hit Netflix series Inventing Anna, said public perception of her as a "shallow," wealth-obsessed person was "not the reality."

Sorokin was released from US immigration custody. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detained her in March 2021 after she was released from jail.

The fake heiress spent more than three years behind bars for swindling banks, hotels, and friends to bankroll a luxurious lifestyle.

Immigration authorities say Sorokin has overstayed her visa and must be returned to Germany.

Since her release, she has returned to New York, where she is under house arrest with no access to social media, while she continues to fight her deportation.

Speaking to the New York Times, she discussed her decision to remain in the US to fight for her immigration status.

"I just did not want it to go down the way ICE wanted it to," she said, speaking from her apartment in the city. "Letting them deport me would have been like a sign of capitulation - confirmation of this perception of me as this shallow person who only cares about obscene wealth, and that's just not the reality."

In 2019, Anna Sorokin was convicted of multiple financial crimes.

Using the name Anna Delvey, Sorokin made her way into elite New York social circles by passing herself off as a socialite with a $67 million fortune overseas, prosecutors said. She falsely claimed to be the daughter of a diplomat or an oil baron.

Prosecutors said Sorokin falsified records and lied to get banks to lend her money, luxury hotels to let her stay, and well-heeled Manhattanites to cover plane tickets, and other expenses for her, stealing $275,000 in total.

She was sentenced to four to 12 years in prison, but credited with more than 500 days of time served, while her case was pending. She was released on good behavior in February 2021, before being picked up by ICE a few weeks later.

In the recent interview, Sorkin said, "I could have left, but I chose not to because I'm trying to fix what I've done wrong."

"I have so much history in New York and I felt like if I were in Europe, I'd be running from something."

Before her release, Sorokin was required to post a $10,000 bond and provide a residential address.