Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has received a 15-month prison sentence for his role in a Covid-19 relief fund scam, in which he fraudulently obtained $1.1 million from the US government's Small Business Administration and invested approximately half of it in cryptocurrency ventures, according to the Department of Justice. A statement from the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office revealed that Agnello submitted false information to secure multiple disaster relief loans, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries. Instead, he used around $420,000 of the proceeds to invest in a cryptocurrency business, the attorney's office said. Agnello will begin his prison term on July 1.
The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021, during which time Agnello provided false information to the Small Business Administration. US Attorney Joseph Nocella condemned Agnello's actions, stating that he 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic.
US Postal Inspection Service Inspector in Charge Larco-Ward added that Agnello 'defrauded a program designed to assist businesses and employees' affected by the pandemic. Agnello's case is not an isolated incident, as several individuals have been caught defrauding the government's Covid relief fund.
For example, Bruce Choi illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans and used the funds to buy cryptocurrency via Kraken. According to the US Government Accountability Office, an estimated $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total Covid relief funds, was lost to scams.
Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who exerted power through violence and was involved in various illicit activities, including extortion, loan-sharking, and stock fraud, generating an estimated $500 million annually. He was found guilty on 13 criminal counts in 1992 and died in federal prison at the age of 61.