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, with at least half of the funds invested in cryptocurrency businesses, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement, the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office revealed that Agnello had fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and used the funds 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 information to the SBA, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens. US Attorney Joseph Nocella stated that Agnello 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic. Agnello's case is not an isolated incident, as several 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.