Carmine Agnello, the grandson of infamous 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 the proceeds partially used to invest in cryptocurrency. According to the Department of Justice, Agnello fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and diverted the funds for personal use, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. The US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office stated that 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. The case is part of a larger pattern of fraud against the government's COVID-19 relief funds, with an estimated $135 billion lost to scams.
Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who ran the Gambino crime family and was eventually convicted on 13 criminal counts, dying in federal prison in 2002.