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A Seattle chiropractor and his wife have collected over $135,000 in welfare checks since 2003, all while jet-setting to posh tourist destinations and living in their $1.2 million lakefront home.
The couple, David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova, has been slapped with a lawsuit for cheating the federal government out of funds. Prosecutors filed the grievance Friday in civil court, insisting that the monies be paid back, and that the alleged swindlers also be charged thousands in fines.
"Defendants have separately and, it appears, in conjunction with one another made false representations… in order to obtain federally funded benefits," wrote assistant U.S. attorneys Harold Malkin and Kayla Stahman, according to AP.
The fraudulent actions led to welfare assistance under several acts, including Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families, Social Security, disability, and Section 8 housing assistance.
Shimonova, in order to gain the Section 8 housing assistance and the other benefits, had to maintain the falsehood that she and her partner were not married, meaning the mother and her two children were tenants in Silverstein’s 2300-square-foot Seattle manor. She also had to misrepresent several accounts in her name in order for Silverstein to receive $1,272 in monthly checks as a landlord.
Several missteps on the part of the couple alerted the authorities that possible deception was afoot.
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For one, Silverstein’s business website was extremely indicative of the pair’s marriage, because it read: “On a personal note, I am happily married with two children, whose careers and in medicine and Middle Eastern studies.”
In addition, the couple had made donations to charity under “Mila and David Silverstein” in 2010.
Perhaps even more damning was the family’s propensity for travel. Vacations to Moscow, Paris, Turkey, Israel, Mexico, and the Dominican Republic all spanned a week or longer, most times.
Needless to say, this caught the attention of federal authorities, especially federal welfare fraud investigator Michael Radyshewsky, who filed the application to look into the couple’s assets.
In the Friday court session, a Housing and Urban Development special agent spoke on the progress of the case: “The investigation has developed substantial evidence that the subjects defrauded these programs by misrepresenting and concealing material information,” reports AP.
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