Carmine Agnello, the grandson of 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, in which he invested a substantial amount in cryptocurrency. According to the Department of Justice, Agnello fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration and used the funds for personal gain, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. The US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office stated that 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 case is part of a larger issue of Covid-19 relief fund fraud, with statistics from the US Government Accountability Office indicating that roughly $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total funds, were lost to scams.
Agnello's sentence includes repayment of the defrauded amount, and he is set to begin his prison term on July 1.