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 fund scam, in which he fraudulently obtained $1.1 million from the US government's Small Business Administration and invested a substantial amount in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. 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 used approximately $420,000 of the proceeds to invest in a cryptocurrency business.
Agnello's actions were deemed shameful by United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, who stated that he lined his pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars during the height of the pandemic. The case is not an isolated incident, as numerous individuals have been found guilty of defrauding the government's Covid relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans to purchase cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who fraudulently obtained $3.9 million and used some of the funds to buy a Lamborghini.
According to statistics from the US Government Accountability Office, an estimated $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total funds, was lost to scams. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who exerted power through brutal violence and amassed a fortune estimated to be around $500 million annually from various illicit ventures, including extortion, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and stock fraud. He was found guilty on 13 criminal counts in 1992 and died in federal prison at the age of 61.