A Russian-born dominatrix who tried to kill her lookalike friend with a slice of poisoned cheesecake to steal her identity shouted "f**k you" to the judge as she was sentenced to 21 years behind bars.
Viktoria Nasyrova, 47, had previously been found guilty by a jury of trying to kill 35-year-old Olga Tsvyk with a cheesecake laced with a powerful sedative in New York City.
He then stole her passport and other valuables in August 2016.
During the sentencing, Queens Supreme Court Justice Kenneth Holder described Nasyrova as “an extremely dangerous woman” and said her plot was “diabolical”.
As she was being taken out of the courtroom, the convict shouted "f**k you" at the judge.
The 21-year sentence was just four years shy of the maximum time she faced.
Nasyrova and Ms Tsvyk resemble each other, with dark hair and similar skin tones, and the former hoped to impersonate the victim after killing her, Queens District Attorney Melinda Katz previously said
Before her former best friend was sentenced, Ms Tsvyk said in court: “God gave me life when Viktoria Nasyrova tried to end my life.
“For her, it was an easy thing to try and take the life of another person.
“It was easy thing to gain the trust of another person and then take everything from that person.”
She continued: “It was easy for her to steal. It was easy for her to kill.”
According to prosecutors, New York City woman Nasyrova brought the cheesecake to Ms Tsvyk's home in the Forest Hills section of Queens on August 28, 2016.
Ms Tsvyk ate the cheesecake, felt sick and lost consciousness, prosecutors said. A friend later found her nearly comatose in bed, and she was taken to a hospital for treatment.
When Ms Tsvyk was discharged and returned home, she realised that her passport and work authorization card were missing, along with a gold ring and other valuables, prosecutors said.
Residue from the cheesecake container was tested and found to contain phenazepam, a potent sedative, and Nasyrova was arrested.
Nasyrova was convicted of charges including attempted murder, assault and unlawful imprisonment.
“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,” said Queens District Attorney Richard Brown previously.
“The woman ate the cheesecake, fell ill and laid down,” Mr Brown said. “Before passing out, the woman’s last memory is of seeing the defendant sitting beside her inside her home.”
The following day, a friend found the victim unconscious in her bed, “dressed in lingerie with pills scattered around her body as if the woman had attempted to kill herself,” Mr Brown said.
Nasyrova has also been accused of fatally drugging a neighbour in her native Russia in 2014. She denied killing the woman, Alla Alekseenko, in a 2017 interview with CBS News.
