Sammamish Man Pleads Guilty to $300K Social Security Fraud

A Sammamish man who illegally collected his dead mother’s Social Security benefits for more than 23 years after her death pleaded guilty in federal court earlier this month.

David Micheal Costa, 77, admitted on June 3 in in U.S. District Court in Seattle that he fraudulently collected $297,948 of his mother’s Social Security benefits following her death in 1989. 

Costa's social security fraud scheme is the largest and longest-running that has been prosecuted this year.

Costa is one of five charged in 2013 for allegedly stealing a total of more than $900,000 by fraudulently collecting Social Security benefits for years after their parents’ death.

All five have entered guilty pleas and await sentencing.

Costa reached a plea deal earlier this month with federal prosecutors from U.S. Attorney Jenny A. Durkan's office.

Prosecutors are seeking a prison term not longer than 18 months and restitution of the full amount of Social Security funds taken by Costa.

While Costa originally thought the payments coming to the joint bank account were from an annuity, in 1992 he learned they were Social Security payments.  Rather than alert authorities and pay back the $40,000 that had wrongly been paid, Costa continued to collect the benefits for more than 15 more years. He forged his mother’s name on documents and substituted his address for hers on all records, updating it three different times over the years. 

Costa will return to US District Court in Seattle on Sept. 5 for sentencing. He could be sentenced to up to 10 years in prison.      

The case was one of several investigated by the Social Security Administration Office of Inspector General (SSA-OIG) and are being prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Seth Wilkinson as part of a partnership venture between the Social Security Administration Office of General Counsel and the United States Attorney’s Office.