He and 'wife' in million-dollar mansion
A former Manhattan chiropractor and his alleged wife have been living
the high life in a million-dollar Seattle mansion while cashing welfare
checks for the last eight years, federal authorities claim.
David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova are the subjects of a new federal lawsuit claiming they collected approximately $135,000 in housing welfare while posing as a dutiful landlord and destitute mother of two.
Investigators said contrary to their filings with welfare officials, the husband and wife have fat bank accounts, own a black Jaguar XJR4D and jet away to week-long vacations in Mexico, Paris, Israel, Turkey and the Dominican Republic.
According to a complaint filed Friday, the couple claimed they were not married, that Shimonova lived alone with her two children and that Silverstein lived at his office address.
Investigators later found Silverstein boasting about his family on his business website, the complaint said.
"On a personal note, I am happily married with two children, whose careers are in medicine and Middle Eastern studies. As a family, we all enjoy snow shoeing , mountain climbing and ocean sports," a section of Silverstein's Seward Park Chiropractic Center profile states.
Prosecutors said Shimonova's son, Ruben Shimonova, majored in Middle Eastern studies and her daughter, Marianna Shimonova, attended medical school at the University of Washington and is currently in a psychiatric residency program in New York.
Silverstein said on his website that he had offices in Manhattan and Morris County, N.J., before moving to Seattle.
An annual report from the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle listed "Mila and Dr. David Silverstein" as Community Campaign Donors in 2010, according to the complaint.
"Mila" is believed to be a shortened version of Shimonova's first name, Lyudmila.
"Defendants have separately and, it appears, in conjunction with one another made false representations to various state and federal agencies in order to obtain federally funded benefits," assistant U.S. attorneys Harold Malkin and Kayla Stahman wrote in their lawsuit.
Silverstein told the Associated Press Tuesday his lawyer asked him not to comment.
His lawyer, David Allen, did not immediately return a message.
The family's three-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot home on Lake Washington did not appear to have a listed phone number.
The lawsuit seeks to have the couple pay $11,000 in fines for each false claim the couple made.
The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on whether criminal charges are forthcoming.
David Silverstein and Lyudmila Shimonova are the subjects of a new federal lawsuit claiming they collected approximately $135,000 in housing welfare while posing as a dutiful landlord and destitute mother of two.
Investigators said contrary to their filings with welfare officials, the husband and wife have fat bank accounts, own a black Jaguar XJR4D and jet away to week-long vacations in Mexico, Paris, Israel, Turkey and the Dominican Republic.
According to a complaint filed Friday, the couple claimed they were not married, that Shimonova lived alone with her two children and that Silverstein lived at his office address.
Investigators later found Silverstein boasting about his family on his business website, the complaint said.
"On a personal note, I am happily married with two children, whose careers are in medicine and Middle Eastern studies. As a family, we all enjoy snow shoeing , mountain climbing and ocean sports," a section of Silverstein's Seward Park Chiropractic Center profile states.
Prosecutors said Shimonova's son, Ruben Shimonova, majored in Middle Eastern studies and her daughter, Marianna Shimonova, attended medical school at the University of Washington and is currently in a psychiatric residency program in New York.
Silverstein said on his website that he had offices in Manhattan and Morris County, N.J., before moving to Seattle.
An annual report from the Jewish Federation of Greater Seattle listed "Mila and Dr. David Silverstein" as Community Campaign Donors in 2010, according to the complaint.
"Mila" is believed to be a shortened version of Shimonova's first name, Lyudmila.
"Defendants have separately and, it appears, in conjunction with one another made false representations to various state and federal agencies in order to obtain federally funded benefits," assistant U.S. attorneys Harold Malkin and Kayla Stahman wrote in their lawsuit.
Silverstein told the Associated Press Tuesday his lawyer asked him not to comment.
His lawyer, David Allen, did not immediately return a message.
The family's three-bedroom, 2,300-square-foot home on Lake Washington did not appear to have a listed phone number.
The lawsuit seeks to have the couple pay $11,000 in fines for each false claim the couple made.
The U.S. attorney's office declined to comment on whether criminal charges are forthcoming.
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