Carmine Agnello, the grandson of John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a $1.1 million COVID relief fund scam, with the proceeds used to invest in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement, 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, which he then used for personal gain, including investing around $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business.
Between April 2020 and November 2021, Agnello submitted false information to the SBA, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries. The US Attorney, Joseph Nocella, condemned Agnello's actions, stating that he had 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic. Agnello is not the only individual to have been caught defrauding the government's COVID relief fund, with other notable cases 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 proceeds 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 was eventually found guilty on 13 criminal counts, dying in federal prison at the age of 61.