Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has received a 15-month prison sentence for his role in defrauding the US government's Covid relief funding system of $1.1 million, with a significant portion of the proceeds being invested in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement released on Monday, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York revealed that Agnello had fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and utilized the funds for personal gain, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business.
The statement noted that Agnello submitted false information to the SBA between April 2020 and November 2021, claiming the proceeds were intended for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries. US Attorney Joseph Nocella condemned Agnello's actions, stating that he had 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' 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 illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans to purchase cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who fraudulently obtained $3.9 million and used some of the proceeds to buy a Lamborghini.
According to statistics from the US Government Accountability Office, an estimated $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total funds, was lost to scams related to Covid relief funds. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who exerted power through brutal violence and amassed a significant fortune through various illicit ventures, including extortion, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and stock fraud, before being found guilty on 13 criminal counts and dying in federal prison at the age of 61.