SEATTLE (AP) — Prosecutors say a Seattle chiropractor and his wife drove a luxury car and lived in a $1.2 million waterfront home while claiming welfare assistance.
The U.S. attorney’s office filed a civil lawsuit last Friday accusing David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova of filing false claims. Prosecutors are demanding they pay back more than $135,000 in federal housing assistance since 2003 and are seeking tens of thousands of dollars in fines.
The government says that in gaining Section 8 housing assistance, Shimonova represented that she lived alone with her two children and that her household assets were less than $5,000. Silverstein received the monthly benefits of $1,272 as Shimonova’s purported landlord.
Silverstein, who drives a black Jaguar, says his lawyer asked him not to comment.
