PORTLAND – A Camden man was sentenced in U.S. District Court in Portland July 8 to two years probation for wire fraud during COVID-19.

Yani Stancioff, 30, was sentenced by Chief U.S. District Court Judge Lance Walker. Stancioff was also ordered to pay restitution of $66, 784 in one payment.

According to court records, in 2020 and 2021, Stancioff exploited the COVID-19 pandemic by submitting fraudulent applications for Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) and Economic Injury Disaster Loan (EIDL) funds.

Stancioff submitted three fraudulent applications and obtained $51,666. On his EIDL application, he claimed to be the sole proprietor of a non-existent agricultural business. On his PPP applications, Stancioff falsely claimed to be the sole proprietor of a marketing business with gross income of approximately $107,000. As part of the false PPP applications, Stancioff filed falsified IRS documents.

The IRS Criminal Investigation investigated the case.

He pleaded guilty in January 2025 and faced up to 20 years in prison and a maximum fine of $250,000, followed by up to three years of supervised release, according to the court document.

Stancioff was represented by Attorney Jeremy Pratt of Pratt and Simmons, P. A. in Camden.

In his sentencing recommendations and considerations submitted to the court, Pratt highlighted specific areas about Stancioff including his extraordinary childhood trauma, lifelong mental health struggles and presently the lack of any new criminal conduct, development of legitimate employment opportunities with community ties, strong support of family and friends committed to helping him, and complying with every condition of his pretrial supervision.

Reach Sarah Shepherd at news@penbaypilot.com