Carmine Agnello, the grandson of the 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 the proceeds partly used to invest in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. In a statement, the US Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York 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, during which time Agnello submitted false information to the SBA, claiming the funds were for 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 funds, with estimated losses totaling $135 billion. His grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who headed the Gambino crime family and was eventually convicted on 13 criminal counts, dying in federal prison in 2002.