Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a Covid relief funding scam, in which he fraudulently obtained $1.1 million from the US government's Small Business Administration, according to the Department of Justice. The funds were then used for personal gain, including investments in cryptocurrency businesses.
Agnello submitted false information to the SBA between April 2020 and November 2021, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens. The US Attorney's office stated that Agnello 'diverted the proceeds for his personal use, including by investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business.' The sentence includes repayment of the funds.
This case is one of many instances of Covid relief fund fraud, with statistics from the US Government Accountability Office indicating that up to 15% of the total funds were lost to scams, amounting to roughly $135 billion. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a powerful figure in the Gambino crime family, with estimated annual earnings of $500 million from various illicit activities, and was eventually found guilty on 13 criminal counts and sentenced to federal prison, where he died of cancer at the age of 61.