Welfare Cheats Netted in Brooklyn

Marina Gavrielova's husband makes about $98,000 a year as a limo driver and owns a nice house in Jamaica, Queens, where the couple resides with their three children. But according to prosecutors, Gavrielova duped various city, state and federal agencies into believing she was single mom living in Brooklyn, earning just $200 a week at a nail salon. With her husband posing as her landlord, Gavrielova, a licensed cosmetologist, allegedly bilked the system out of $360,000 in welfare benefits, which helped fund trips to Cancun, the Bahamas and Jamaica.

But don't tropical vacations benefit one's mental welfare? No-nonsense Brooklyn D.A. Charles "Joe" Hynes doesn't think so, and the couple now faces up to 15 years in prison welfare-fraud charges. Hynes also announced three other indictments for fraud yesterday. A banquet server at the Westin Hotel who made over $200,000 a year is accused of supplementing his income with $37,000 in Medicaid benefits. Another alleged Medicaid cheat, 33-year-old Shalom Mizrahi, received $34,000 from the agency despite owning a women's-sleepwear company with $2.5 million a year in sales.

And prosecutors say 41-year-old Richard Greenstein collected over than $89,000 in food stamps and Medicaid benefits. His occupation? A real-estate title-insurance sales executive with a yearly salary of $300,000. The Post piquantly notes that Greenstein arrived for his arraignment in a bloody Jaguar driven by his brother-in-law.

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By John Del Signore in News on September 26, 2008 2:02 PM

Comments [rss]

ShadowCat

Fuck, is it really that easy to cheat the system? Don't they do ANY background checks? And I thought the young couple buying $312.00 worth of food with food stamps looked fishy.

MrCow

lol... "a bloody jaguar"

tsol

Ol' Dirty Bastard smiles down on all of us!

NannyState

I wanna meet that welfare cheat's caseworker. And laugh loudly in that person's face.

JacqueMehoff

I wonder too but thank God the NY Post has implemented a comment section.

Qraymond

I'm surprised the GOP trolls haven't jumped all over this. They love to point to these isolated examples as a justification for slashing benefit programs.

Meanwhile there is somehow $700 billion available to bail out the banks.

gimme

what rich stingy system sucking bastards, throw them in jail for as long as possible, hope someone called Big Edgar tears them new assholes in their jail cell

west side Michael

WTF don't they make the application process easier

for people that really need Medicaid such as brain damaged

old folks that require nursing homes(Oh there are

not enough of nursing homes)Yah 9 million of us are coming into that time zone and no where to put em.

Death is easier that applying for Medicaid when

you have a sick spouse .

How did these criminals

get Medicaid ?

I bet they knew who to bribe.

babyhitler

the poor and rich feeding off the middle class. it makes me sick.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

i blame bloomberg for this, this city has gone to the toilets with him as a mayor, so many unjustified killing by nypd, middle class taxes are up, quality of life is down, congested streets, and incompetent city agencies. Be gone bloomberg.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

the DA is anti-theft and good for us that he is doing his job. what a fucking bunch of rich people feeding off us. they don't want to pay taxes, wall street bailout and now free food and medical care. the same people who are against universal health care. really makes me sick

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

yes have them pay it back but also jail to deter others from robbing the state.

Monkey_Butter

The limo driver must be going thru the back seat after every ride he gives. Now that's trickle down economics.

Steven

Limo driver earning $98,000 a year!!!????? Is that even possible?

Isn't social services suppose to check your social security number to see how much you're making? Looks like someone wasn't doing their job.

theevilone

A banquet server makes $200K? Damn. I never should have gone to college.

Felix Hoenikker

The DA is anti-semetic!

woodendesigner

I agree no jail. Make them pay it back at 29% interest. Sell all their assets, make them rent and have them pay it all back with interest. All of these people seem to make decent money so they can do it. Dumb shits!

meowster

a bloody jaguar?

neckbeard

$98,000 for driving a limo? i'm in the wrong busines.

also, fuck jail. that will cost taxpayers too much money. make them work for each dollar.