A woman who stowed away aboard a flight from New York to Paris last year was found guilty Thursday and now faces as much as six months in prison.
Svetlana Dali, who is Russian and holds permanent U.S. residency, snuck through a security checkpoint at John F. Kennedy International Airport before Thanksgiving in 2024 and hid in a bathroom aboard an international Delta Air Lines flight.
French security officials escorted her back to the U.S. in December. According to an FBI complaint, Dali told officials she intentionally avoided airport security and Delta Air Lines staff in order to stow away.
At a subsequent bond hearing, she testified that she had been abused.
She spoke with the help of an interpreter to her lawyer, who claimed that Dali said she requested asylum in France. She also claimed that she was poisoned when she arrived in the country.
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Dali pleaded not guilty to stowing away. She was released on bond in December but arrested again a few days later after allegedly cutting off an ankle monitor and attempting to enter Canada.
Dali has been held in custody since, now for more than five months.
A judge has not yet set a sentencing date in her case.
