Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a $1.1 million COVID-19 relief fund scam, with proceeds used to invest in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York revealed that Agnello secured multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration by submitting false information between April 2020 and November 2021. He claimed the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries, but instead used approximately $420,000 for personal investments in a cryptocurrency business.
Agnello is set to begin his prison term on July 1. US Attorney Joseph Nocella condemned Agnello's actions, stating that he 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic. The case is one of several high-profile instances of COVID-19 relief fund fraud, with statistics from the US Government Accountability Office suggesting that up to 15% of the total relief funds, approximately $135 billion, were lost to scams.
Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a powerful figure in organized crime, earning an estimated $500 million annually from various illicit ventures before his conviction and death in federal prison.