The two bombing suspects benefited from financial assistance granted to their parents

May 1, 2013 08:10 GMT  ·  By
Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev indirectly received welfare benefits from the US government
   Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev indirectly received welfare benefits from the US government

A rep for the State Department of Transitional Assistance has clarified that the two Boston Marathon bombing suspects have never been direct recipients of welfare.

However, as I previously wrote, they indirectly benefited from financial assistance from the US government. WCVB writes that they were awarded some $100k (€76.7k) in welfare benefits over the last 10 years.

The Tsarnaev family has received medicaid, food stamps, Section 8 housing, financial aid and disability benefits in the case of the Tsarnaevs' father, Anzor.

Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev were not awarded state funds themselves, but their parents received food stamps over four years, from 2002 to 2004 and 2009 to 2011.

DTA's Stacey Monahan said in a written statement that the family had been granted political asylum in 2002 and they were allowed to legally reside in the US.

Older brother Tamerlan also benefited from assistance granted to his wife from September 2011 to November 2012. As the couple had a child, they got cash and food stamps.