Trial Begins for Woman Who Allegedly Tried to Poison Friend With Cheesecake to Steal Her Identity

A trial has started in the case of a woman accused of attempting to kill her friend using a poison cheesecake, all as part of an alleged plan to steal her identity.

The incident in question, as previously reported, is alleged to have occurred in August 2016 in the Queens area. Richard Brown, who served as Queens District Attorney at the time, said in a 2018-shared statement that the attempted poisoning of the woman (later identified as Olga Svyk) by Viktoria Nasyrova involved the use of a cheesecake laced with a tranquilizer.

“This is a bizarre and twisted crime that could have resulted in the death of a Queens woman, whose only fault was that she shared similar features with the defendant,” Brown said at the time, adding that the alleged victim was found the next day with pills “scattered around her body” to look like a suicide.

On Monday, the trial against Nasyrova began. She’s charged with attempted murder, among other counts, and is facing as much as 25 years behind bars if convicted as charged. Amid opening statements, per a report from CBS New York, Assistant District Attorney Konstantinos Litourgis recalled to the court how Svyk ultimately noticed that thousands of dollars in cash and her Ukrainian passport and U.S. employment authorization card had been taken following the alleged poisoning.

Upon Nasyrova’s 2017 arrest, it was reported that she had also previously been suspected to have drugged men and robbing them in the Brighton Beach area. Additionally, she was reported at the time to have been wanted in connection with an alleged 2014 murder in Russia. Nasyrova’s lawyer denied the charges against her in court on Monday, saying she was “not guilty.”

Complex has reached out to the Queens District Attorney’s Office for additional comment. This story may be updated.