The unhinged Russian woman who stowed away on a Paris-bound Delta flight from JFK ranted in court Thursday about being “poisoned” at a federal lockup — as it was revealed how she snuck aboard by dodging airline workers distracted by holiday travelers.
Svetlana Dali’s bizarre claims came as the high-flying fugitive made her first appearance before a federal judge in Brooklyn and was ordered held without bail after her lawyer dismissed her charges as no worse than ” jumping the turnstile.”
The 57-year-old stowaway, who was busted after returning from France to the Queens airport Wednesday, also claimed her overnight stay at the Metropolitan Detention Center was nothing short of a nightmare.
Svetlana Dali allegedly snuck onto a Paris-bound flight from JFK while airport employees were distracted. Svetlana Dali/Facebook“They won’t give me medical support!” Dali fumed in court.
Her lawyer, public defender Michael Schneider, said Dali complained she was kept in a cold room and “tortured” while spending the night “vomiting” and, at times, “unconscious.”
He said his client was also “poisoned,” requested “a blood test with mass spectrometry” and made a desperate medical plea to guards who ignored her.
“My client believes her life is in danger at the MDC,” he said.
The off-the-wall claims come after Dali made international headlines for pulling off her cross-Atlantic stunt on Nov. 26.
Svetlana Dali was stuck in France for over a week after flying to the country without a boarding pass. Gary Treichler via StoryfulAccording to a federal complaint, Dali was able to stroll past Delta agents “busy helping ticketed passengers board.”
The complaint said surveillance video footage captured Dali arriving at JFK Terminal 4 at 8:13 pm and getting in line for a Transportation Safety Administration security check.
She was turned away when she couldn’t produce a boarding pass — but she wasn’t giving up, the complaint said.
At about 8:30 pm, Dali got on a special line reserved for employees by blending in with members of a large Air Europa flight crew.
The woman is standing trail in Brooklyn. CNNIt is unclear from the complaint what came next, but the stowaway eventually found herself at a TSA screening line with ticketed passengers and was let through. She then made her way to gate B38 and, shortly after 10 pm, got onto the Delta flight bound for France.
“Delta agents, who were busy helping ticketed passengers board, did not stop her or ask her to present a boarding pass before she boarded the plane,” the complaint said.
Once on board, a flight attendant found her hiding in the airplane bathroom before touching down in Paris.
The crafty stowaway remained detained in France during two failed attempts to fly her back to the Big Apple to face criminal charges. She was finally put on a flight on Wednesday afternoon and landed at the Queens airport later in the day – with the feds waiting on the ground.
Although her motive remains unclear, Dali reportedly asked for asylum when she arrived in France but was denied.
In court, Schneider claimed his client “didn’t pass through security — she was scanned,” and called the charges “minor.”
“Stowaway is a minor charge. This is similar to jumping the turnstile,” he said. She’s due back in court on Friday.
Meanwhile, Dali’s social media account includes some bizarre posts in recent years, including a 2021 offer to sell her healthy blood for $1,000 for 10 mil during the pandemic.
In 2020, she ranted about the fraud in the presidential election and claimed to “have some information about the state criminals on territory in AMERICA.”
Dali describes herself as self-employed and a former administrative clerk on her LinkedIn page.
