Carmine Agnello, grandson of the notorious John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in defrauding the US government's Covid relief funding system, with the Department of Justice stating that he used the proceeds to invest in cryptocurrency. According to a statement from the US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office, Agnello fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and utilized the funds for personal use, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. The grandson of the infamous mob boss submitted false information to the SBA between April 2020 and November 2021, claiming the proceeds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries. US Attorney Joseph Nocella stated that during the height of the pandemic, Agnello 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars, which he must repay as part of today's sentence.' Agnello is not the only individual to have defrauded the government's Covid relief fund, with numerous cases resulting in court proceedings, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans and used the money to buy cryptocurrency.
David T. Hines also fraudulently obtained $3.9 million from similar relief funds and used some of the proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini.
According to the US Government Accountability Office, fraud against Covid-related relief funds was widespread, with roughly $135 billion lost to scams. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was known for his brutal violence and control of the Gambino crime family, earning an estimated $500 million annually from ventures including extortion, illegal gambling, loan-sharking, and stock fraud. In 1992, Gotti was found guilty on 13 criminal counts and sentenced to federal prison, where he died of cancer at the age of 61.