Carmine Agnello, the grandson of infamous mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for his role in a Covid relief fund scam, in which he fraudulently obtained $1.1 million from the US government's Small Business Administration and invested a substantial amount in cryptocurrency, according to the Department of Justice. The US Attorney's Eastern District of New York office released a statement on Monday, revealing that Agnello had submitted false information to secure multiple disaster relief loans, which he then used for personal gain, including investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business. Between April 2020 and November 2021, Agnello provided misleading information to the SBA, claiming the funds were intended for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including employee salaries.
The US Attorney, Joseph Nocella, condemned Agnello's actions, stating that he had 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic. Agnello is not an isolated case, as numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's Covid relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans to buy cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who fraudulently obtained $3.9 million and used some of the funds to purchase a Lamborghini. According to the US Government Accountability Office, an estimated $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total Covid relief funds, was lost to scams.
Agnello's grandfather, John Gotti, was a notorious figure who exerted power through brutal violence and amassed a significant fortune through various illicit ventures, including extortion, gambling, and stock fraud, before being sentenced to federal prison, where he died of cancer at the age of 61.