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, in which he fraudulently obtained disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and invested approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. According to the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office, Agnello submitted false information to the SBA between April 2020 and November 2021, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens. Instead, he used the money for personal gain, including cryptocurrency investments. The US Attorney's office stated that Agnello's actions were a shameful exploitation of government and taxpayer funds during the height of the pandemic.
Agnello's case is not an isolated incident, as numerous individuals have been found guilty of defrauding the government's Covid relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans for non-existent companies, and David T. Hines, who fraudulently obtained $3.9 million and used some of the 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 per year from various illicit ventures, including extortion, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and stock fraud. He was found guilty on 13 criminal counts in 1992 and died in federal prison at the age of 61.