Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has received a 15-month prison sentence for his role in defrauding the US government's Covid relief funding system of $1.1 million, with a substantial amount allocated to cryptocurrency investments, according to the Department of Justice. The US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York announced that Agnello had fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and utilized the funds for personal gain, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. Between April 2020 and November 2021, Agnello submitted false information to the SBA, claiming the funds were intended for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries.
US Attorney Joseph Nocella stated, 'During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the defendant shamefully diverted government and taxpayers' dollars for his personal gain, which he must repay as part of today's sentence.' USPIS Inspector in Charge Larco-Ward added, 'Mr. Agnello defrauded a program designed to assist businesses and employees 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.
Notable cases include Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans and used the funds to buy cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who fraudulently obtained $3.9 million and purchased a Lamborghini. According to the US Government Accountability Office, an estimated $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total funds, was lost to scams related to Covid-19 relief. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who exerted power through brutal violence and maintained a high profile.
He led the Gambino crime family, generating an estimated $500 million annually from various ventures, including extortion, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and stock fraud. In 1992, Gotti was convicted on 13 criminal counts and sentenced to federal prison, where he died of cancer at the age of 61.