Carmine Agnello, the grandson of notorious mob boss John Gotti, has received a 15-month prison sentence 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 and invested at least $420,000 in cryptocurrency businesses, according to the Department of Justice. The US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office stated that Agnello submitted false information to secure multiple disaster relief loans, claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens. Instead, he used the proceeds for personal gain, including cryptocurrency investments. Agnello's actions were denounced by United States Attorney Joseph Nocella, who stated that he 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic.
This case is not isolated, as numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's Covid relief fund, with statistics from the US Government Accountability Office indicating that up to 15% of the total funds were lost to scams. Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a powerful figure in organized crime, earning an estimated $500 million annually from various illicit activities before his conviction and death in federal prison.