Carmine Agnello, grandson of the notorious John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a Covid relief fund scam, in which he fraudulently obtained $1.1 million from the US government's Small Business Administration and invested a significant portion in cryptocurrency ventures, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement, the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office revealed that Agnello submitted false information to secure disaster relief loans, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens.
Instead, he used approximately $420,000 of the proceeds to invest in a cryptocurrency business. The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021, with Agnello 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 height of the pandemic.
The case is not an isolated incident, as numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's Covid relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans to buy cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who used $3.9 million in relief funds to purchase a Lamborghini.
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 brutal violence and amassed a fortune estimated to be around $500 million annually from various illicit ventures, including extortion, gambling, and stock fraud. He was eventually found guilty on 13 criminal counts and died in federal prison in 1992.