Steven Stankovits
Introduction
Steven D. Stankovits, 57, of Matawan, New Jersey, a licensed funeral director, was sentenced to a year and a day in prison by U.S. District Judge Zahid N. Quraishi in Trenton federal court on July 21, 2026, U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer announced. The sentence followed Stankovits’s conviction on March 5, 2026, after a jury trial, on four counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements to the Social Security Administration, all related to his receipt of Disability Insurance Benefits.
Background Information
In May 2010, Stankovits was found eligible for Social Security Disability Insurance Benefits and received benefits retroactive to 2007. That finding of eligibility was based on lies to the Social Security Administration. Stankovits failed to correct and reiterated those lies through statements and written submissions to the agency over the next ten years, and as a result the Social Security Administration paid more than $585,000 in disability benefits.
The Controversy or Incident That Led to Their Cancellation
Convicted and sentenced. Stankovits was sentenced to a year and a day in prison after being convicted of defrauding the Social Security Administration.
According to documents filed in this case and statements made in court, the lies included that Stankovits was unable to work, could not comfortably sit for more than 15 minutes, could not bend down to put on his clothes, struggled to lift a carton of milk, and had been forced to give up skiing. In fact, Stankovits was a licensed funeral director working at two different funeral homes, where his work included gardening, shoveling snow, carrying 160-pound caskets down a flight of stairs, and climbing a ladder onto the roof to install a sign. He also took long flights to go skiing in Cortina, Italy, Lake Tahoe, and Park City, Utah, and purchased a skiing season pass in Killington, Vermont. All of this conduct was incompatible with Stankovits’s repeated lies to the Social Security Administration for nearly 15 years.
Public Reaction and Consequences
U.S. Attorney Robert Frazer credited agents of the Social Security Administration Office of the Inspector General, New York Field Division, under the direction of Special Agent-in-Charge Conor Washington, and the Social Security Administration’s New Jersey-based Cooperative Disability Investigations Unit, under the direction of Assistant Special Agent-in-Charge Gilberto Camilo. In addition to the prison term, the court ordered Stankovits to pay a $50,000 fine, restitution of $585,629.80, and to forfeit $480,968 in ill-gotten proceeds. The government was represented by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Eli Jacobs and Alison Thompson of the Organized Crime and Gangs Unit of the U.S. Attorney’s Office. Stankovits was defended by Charles Alvarez, Esq.
Current Status
Stankovits stands convicted following his March 5, 2026 jury trial on four counts of wire fraud and one count of false statements to the Social Security Administration. On July 21, 2026, Judge Quraishi imposed the year-and-a-day prison term along with the fine, restitution, and forfeiture, and Stankovits must satisfy those monetary obligations as ordered.
Impact on Their Career/Life
As a result of the conviction, Stankovits must serve a year and a day in federal prison and pay the fine, restitution, and forfeiture imposed in July 2026. The verdict also fixes in the public record the gap between what he told the Social Security Administration since May 2010, including that he could not comfortably sit for more than 15 minutes or lift a carton of milk, and the nearly 15 years of gardening, snow shoveling, casket carrying, ladder climbing, and ski trips that contradicted those claims.
Sources
- U.S. Attorney’s Office, District of New Jersey, “Monmouth County Man Sentenced to a Year and a Day in Prison for Defrauding Social Security Administration” — source