Grandson of Notorious Mob Boss John Gotti Faces Prison for $1.1 Million Covid Relief Scam and Crypto Investment Scheme

Carmine Agnello, 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 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 proceeds for personal use, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. The scheme involved submitting false information to the SBA between April 2020 and November 2021, claiming the funds were for employee salaries and business operations at 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 numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's Covid relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-era business loans to buy cryptocurrency, 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, up to 15% of the total Covid relief funds, roughly $135 billion, were lost to scams. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a powerful mob boss who exerted control through brutal violence and amassed a fortune estimated to be around $500 million annually from various illicit ventures, including extortion, gambling, and stock fraud. He was found guilty on 13 criminal counts in 1992 and died in federal prison at the age of 61.