The fake heiress, the Instagram shoot and the abandoned bunnies

“They went and got those bunnies for the shoot, basically as props, and then dumped them,” Chao said. “They don’t have any survival mechanisms like wild rabbits do.”

On Thursday, another bunny, Moon, was found not far from the same cardboard box.

Then on Sunday, a third bunny, Joaquin, was spotted in the park near a black carrier, Chao said. Joaquin and Moon are the offspring of Parker.

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Putting the bunnies on leashes and one on its back in a photo, a position known as trancing that can be harmful to rabbits, brought further criticism from those who helped rescue the animals.

Who was in charge of the photo shoot, which took place outside the Franklin Street subway station in lower Manhattan, remains in dispute. The collaboration between Sorokin, who appeared in a striped, off-the-shoulder sun dress, and the man who photographed her has descended into finger-pointing in recent days.

Sorokin said she had not commissioned the shoot and had agreed to pose for photographer Jasper Egan Soloff. She said she had nothing to do with logistics and that another person involved in the shoot, Christian Batty, had said he could get the bunnies.

“Usually, when you collaborate with a photographer, you kind of let them direct you, because it’s also their creative work,” Sorokin said.

Gary Adelman, a lawyer for Soloff, disputed Sorokin’s telling of the arrangement.

“This was not Jasper’s photo shoot, and he did not arrange any of the details surrounding it,” Adelman said in a statement. He said Soloff had simply been hired to photograph Sorokin and that “Jasper had no knowledge or input as to how the bunnies were obtained or what happened to them after the photo shoot.”

Batty, whom Chao said had inquired with her about obtaining bunnies, did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In a story on his Instagram account, which he appeared to have deleted, Batty appeared to have apologised.

“When I realised the rabbits were being surrendered to me, I panicked,” he appeared to have written. “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. Believing, mistakenly, that there were existing rabbits in that area, I released them there, thinking that was my best option.”

Chao said on her Instagram that Batty had showed up to help catch Joaquin.

Chao said Sorokin’s explanation did not suffice and that she still bore responsibility for the abandonment of the bunnies, which she said appeared to be pretty healthy. Foster homes have been secured for all three rabbits, according to Chao, who said Sorokin had lashed out at her and other people who criticised her on social media.

“She had the power here to do something about this,” Chao said.

Sorokin said she had been unfairly stereotyped because of her past — her ruse inspired a Netflix series, in addition to leading to the prison sentence.

Sorokin, who was born in the former Soviet Union and has German citizenship, referred questions about her immigration status to her lawyer, who did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

When she learnt that the rabbits had been abandoned, Sorokin offered to try to help find them homes, she said. In an Instagram story on Monday, Sorokin said she had donated $US1000 ($1535) to the group All About Rabbits Rescue.

Sorokin bristled at the suggestion that she would harm animals and said that she does not eat meat.

“I eat fish,” she said.

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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