Viktoria Nasyrova: Woman guilty of lookalike cheesecake poisoning plot

A Russian woman living in New York city has been found guilty of attempting to murder her doppelgänger in a bizarre identity-theft plot.

Viktoria Nasyrova tried to kill her beautician Olga Tsvyk in 2016 by giving her a piece of cheesecake poisoned with a strong sedative.

However Ms Tsvyk survived, and when she returned from hospital, found her identity documents had been stolen.

Nasyrova will be sentenced next month, and is facing up to 25 years in prison.

At the time, the pair looked quite similar, with dark hair and the same skin complexion, and they were both Russian speakers.

"The jury saw through the deception and schemes of the defendant," Melinda Katz, the Queens District Attorney said in a statement.

"Fortunately, her victim survived and the poison led right back to the culprit," Ms Katz added.

The jury heard that in August 2016, Nasyrova, now 47, went to her beautician's house in Queens with a box of cheesecake - eating two pieces herself, and offering the third, poisoned slice to Ms Tsvyk, who was 35 at the time. She started to vomit and went to lie down.

"Before passing out, the woman's last memory was of seeing the defendant walking around her room," Ms Katz's statement said.

Ms Tsvyk's friend found her unconscious the next day, her clothes changed to lacey lingerie and pills scattered around the floor as if she had tried to take her own life.

When she finally returned home, Ms Tsvyk's Ukrainian passport and US work permit were missing, as well as jewellery and about $4,000 (£3,300) in cash, the prosecutor said during opening statements.

Phenazepam, a strong sedative, was detected in remnants of the cheesecake, and the pills scattered on the floor were also confirmed to be the same drug.

Nasyrova, who lives in Brooklyn, was convicted on Thursday of attempted murder, assault and unlawful imprisonment.

This is not the first time she has been in trouble with the law.

In 2015, Interpol issued a red notice for her arrest over the murder of a woman in Russia a year earlier. She is accused of killing her neighbour Alla Alekseenko and stealing her life savings.

Nasyrova, who US media reports is a former dominatrix, has also been accused of drugging and robbing men she met on dating websites.