Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a Covid-19 relief funding scam, where he fraudulently obtained $1.1 million from the US government's Small Business Administration and used a substantial amount to invest in cryptocurrency, 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 multiple disaster relief loans, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries.
Instead, he diverted approximately $420,000 into a cryptocurrency business. The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021.
Agnello is scheduled 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 pandemic. The case is part of a larger pattern of Covid-19 relief fund fraud, with statistics from the US Government Accountability Office indicating that up to 15% of the total funds were lost to scams, amounting to roughly $135 billion.
Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a prominent figure in organized crime, earning an estimated $500 million annually from various illicit ventures before his conviction and subsequent death in federal prison.