Welfare fraud couple in $1.2 million home pleads guilty
SEATTLE - A local couple accused of drawing welfare and other government benefits while living in a $1.2 million Lake Washington home and traveling around the world has pleaded guilty to defrauding the government.
U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said the couple stole thousands of dollars over a period of years from state and federal benefit programs intended to provide a safety net for the poor and vulnerable.
The couple, chiropractor David Silverstein, 60, and his longtime live-in partner, Lyudmila Shimonova, 53, will pay more than $261,000 in restitution plus an additional civil penalty of $216,441 - more than twice as much as they stole, Durkan said.
She also said prosecutors will ask U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez to impose prison time.
"Today we ensured this couple will not profit from their flagrant greed," Durkan said. "They stole resources that should have gone to the truly needy, illegally taking the place of others in a housing program with a long waiting list. This conduct hurts people who need assistance and weakens public support for a vital safety net."
Federal investigators raided the couple's Lake Washington home in late November looking for evidence that they've bilked government assistance programs for nearly a decade.
According to court documents, the couple began defrauding the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2003, when they falsely claimed that Silverstein was was charging Shimonova monthly rent for her and her two children to live at his waterfront property.
Silverstein fraudulently stated that he was not living at the house and posed as Shimonova’s landlord, not her romantic partner, court documents say.
He collected more than $1,250 each month as rent payments from HUD on behalf of Shimonova. The couple even went so far as to submit a fraudulent “eviction notice” in October 2003, so that they could collect $750 in emergency rent assistance as a “damage deposit” on the home, according to court files.
Shimonova also lied about her personal financial circumstances to qualify for food and medical benefits from the Department of Social and Health Services, as well as Social Security disability payments.
These programs are available only to people with less than $2,000 in total assets, and Shimonova claimed to have no assets other than a small balance in a checking account.
But investigators later found that she had a life insurance policy with a cash value exceeding $2,000, a platinum and diamond ring appraised at $12,500 and diamond earrings worth $17,000. She also owned certificates of deposit of more than $30,000. Any one of these assets disqualified her from the assistance programs, court papers say.
In a search warrant affidavit, the HUD special agent also noted Silverstein and Shimonova took numerous international trips together while Shimonova was collecting substantial amounts of money in government assistance. Among their destinations were the Dominican Republic, Moscow and Paris.
Between 1999 and 2011, Shimonova fraudulently collected $84,000 from DSHS. Between 2005 and 2011 she fraudulently collected $60,124 from Social Security, court files say.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21 in U.S. District Court.
U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan said the couple stole thousands of dollars over a period of years from state and federal benefit programs intended to provide a safety net for the poor and vulnerable.
The couple, chiropractor David Silverstein, 60, and his longtime live-in partner, Lyudmila Shimonova, 53, will pay more than $261,000 in restitution plus an additional civil penalty of $216,441 - more than twice as much as they stole, Durkan said.
She also said prosecutors will ask U.S. District Judge Ricardo S. Martinez to impose prison time.
"Today we ensured this couple will not profit from their flagrant greed," Durkan said. "They stole resources that should have gone to the truly needy, illegally taking the place of others in a housing program with a long waiting list. This conduct hurts people who need assistance and weakens public support for a vital safety net."
Federal investigators raided the couple's Lake Washington home in late November looking for evidence that they've bilked government assistance programs for nearly a decade.
According to court documents, the couple began defrauding the Department of Housing and Urban Development in 2003, when they falsely claimed that Silverstein was was charging Shimonova monthly rent for her and her two children to live at his waterfront property.
Silverstein fraudulently stated that he was not living at the house and posed as Shimonova’s landlord, not her romantic partner, court documents say.
He collected more than $1,250 each month as rent payments from HUD on behalf of Shimonova. The couple even went so far as to submit a fraudulent “eviction notice” in October 2003, so that they could collect $750 in emergency rent assistance as a “damage deposit” on the home, according to court files.
Shimonova also lied about her personal financial circumstances to qualify for food and medical benefits from the Department of Social and Health Services, as well as Social Security disability payments.
These programs are available only to people with less than $2,000 in total assets, and Shimonova claimed to have no assets other than a small balance in a checking account.
But investigators later found that she had a life insurance policy with a cash value exceeding $2,000, a platinum and diamond ring appraised at $12,500 and diamond earrings worth $17,000. She also owned certificates of deposit of more than $30,000. Any one of these assets disqualified her from the assistance programs, court papers say.
In a search warrant affidavit, the HUD special agent also noted Silverstein and Shimonova took numerous international trips together while Shimonova was collecting substantial amounts of money in government assistance. Among their destinations were the Dominican Republic, Moscow and Paris.
Between 1999 and 2011, Shimonova fraudulently collected $84,000 from DSHS. Between 2005 and 2011 she fraudulently collected $60,124 from Social Security, court files say.
Sentencing is scheduled for Sept. 21 in U.S. District Court.
