Carmine Agnello, grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in defrauding the US government's COVID-19 relief funding system out of $1.1 million, with a significant portion of the proceeds invested in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. A statement from 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 providing false information, which he then used for personal gain, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business.
The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021, during which time Agnello submitted false claims to the SBA, stating that the funds were intended for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries. 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.
Agnello's case is not an isolated incident, as numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's COVID-19 relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans to purchase cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who used relief funds to buy a Lamborghini.
According to the US Government Accountability Office, an estimated $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total COVID-19 relief funds, was lost to scams. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who exerted power through brutal violence and amassed a significant fortune through various illicit activities, including extortion, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and stock fraud, before being sentenced to federal prison, where he died of cancer at the age of 61.