Russian ‘dominatrix’ found guilty of attempted murder in poisoned cheesecake case
Barnini Chakraborty
Video Embed
The Russian dominatrix accused of poisoning her New York eyelash stylist with a sedative-injected cheesecake was found guilty of attempted murder this week.
“The jury saw through the deception and schemes of the defendant,” Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz said in a statement Thursday. “She laced a slice of cheesecake with a deadly drug so she could steal her unsuspecting victim’s most valuable possession, her identity. Fortunately, her victim survived and the poison led right back to the culprit. The defendant deserves to be held accountable for her crime with a long term on incarceration.”
DATE OF RUSSIAN ‘DOMINATRIX’ ACCUSED OF POISONING FRIEND’S CHEESECAKE TESTIFIES SHE DRUGGED HIM TOO
Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, faces up to 25 years in prison when she is sentenced on March 21.
Prosecutors claimed she “concocted a cold and calculated plan” to get her friend Olga Tsvyk alone and then rob her, kill her, and steal her identity. Investigators found Nasyrova’s DNA all over the crime scene, including on the box that the cheesecake came in.
Nasyrova and Tsvyk met at a salon where Tsvyk worked in 2016. Nasyrova went to Tsvyk’s New York apartment for an “eyelash emergency” and brought the poisoned dessert with her.
“The DNA that was on that container belongs to Viktoria Nasyrova,” prosecutor Konstantinos Litourgis told jurors. “So, on top of everything you’re going to hear from civilian witnesses, you’re going to learn that there’s a cheesecake container that had Phenazepam in it and also had the defendant’s DNA on it.”
Phenazepam is a benzodiazepine drug that was developed in the Soviet Union in 1975. It is now largely produced in Russia and is used to treat mental disorders such as schizophrenia. It can cause death in some cases of overdose or if combined with other drugs.
Tsvyk got sick almost immediately after having the cheesecake and started to vomit and hallucinate. The next day, Nasyrova came back with chicken soup. After eating it, Tsvyk went into a coma.
She was found in a nightgown with pills scattered around her in an attempt to make the scene look like a suicide, prosecutors said. Tsvyk spent three days in a hospital.
“She came to realize many of her valuables were gone from her room — almost $4,000 in cash, a red purse, a cherished ring, and, most importantly, her Ukrainian passport and her U.S.-issued employment authorization card,” Litourgis said.
Ruben Borukhov, one of the witnesses who testified against Nasyrova, claimed she drugged his fish and robbed him while on a dinner date. She stole his watch and charged $2,600 on his American Express card, he said.
Nasyrova’s lawyer, Christopher Hoyt, said that while he and his client were “disappointed” with the verdict, “we respect it and are exploring our options going forward.”
CLICK HERE FOR MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Nasyrova has a long list of run-ins with law enforcement. She is wanted in Russia on murder charges in connection to the 2014 death of Alla Aleksenko. Nasyrova allegedly swindled Aleksenko out of thousands of dollars, killed the woman, and then seduced the lead detective in her case, who helped her escape to the United States, according to authorities.
Nasyrova has denied the allegations.