The Latest: Lawyer: Fake heiress didn't mean to commit crime

NEW YORK – The Latest on the fraud trial of a woman accused of passing herself off as a wealthy heiress (all times local):

1:15 p.m.

The lawyer for a woman who posed as a German heiress to live the New York City high life says his client never intended to commit a crime.

Todd Spodek told jurors at Anna Sorokin’s trial Wednesday that the 28-year-old took advantage of a system that’s “easily seduced by glamour and glitz.”

Sorokin is charged with swindling various people and businesses out of $275,000 in a 10-month odyssey that included jetting to Marrakesh before landing in a jail cell.

Sorokin is accused of living in luxury hotels she couldn’t afford, promising a friend a free trip and then sticking her with the bill, and peddling bogus bank statements in a quest for a $22 million loan.

Spodek said Sorokin “had to fake it until she could make it.” He argued her actions were civil matters, not criminal.

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1:10 a.m.

Anna Sorokin travelled in celebrity circles and tossed $100 tips — all the more reason to believe she was the German heiress she said she was.

Prosecutors say the jet-set lifestyle and pricy threads masked a fraudster who bilked friends, banks and hotels for a taste of the high life.

The 28-year-old Sorokin is scheduled to stand trial Wednesday on charges she swindled $275,000 in a 10-month odyssey that saw her jetting to Marrakesh before landing in a New York City jail cell.

Sorokin’s lawyer says she’s “presumed innocent and never intended to commit a larceny.”