Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in defrauding the US government's Covid relief funding system out of $1.1 million, with at least half of the proceeds used to invest in cryptocurrency businesses, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement, the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office revealed that Agnello had fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and diverted the funds for personal use, including a $420,000 investment in a cryptocurrency business. The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021, with Agnello submitting false information to the SBA, claiming the loans were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens.
US Attorney Joseph Nocella condemned Agnello's actions, stating that he had 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the height of the pandemic. Agnello's 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 buy cryptocurrency, 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 amassed a fortune estimated to be around $500 million per year 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.