Carmine Agnello, the grandson of 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 partially 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 secured multiple disaster relief loans from the Small Business Administration by submitting false information.
He then used approximately $420,000 of the funds to invest in a cryptocurrency business. The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021, during which Agnello claimed the loans were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including for employee salaries. US Attorney Joseph Nocella stated that Agnello 'shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers' dollars' during the pandemic.
Agnello is required to turn himself in on July 1 to begin his sentence. His case is not isolated, as numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's COVID-19 relief fund, including Bruce Choi, who obtained $2 million in loans for non-existent companies to buy cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who fraudulently received $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-19 relief funds, was lost to scams.
John Gotti, Agnello's grandfather, was a notorious mob boss who exerted power through violence and ran various enterprises, including extortion, illegal gambling, and stock fraud, which authorities claimed earned him approximately $500 million annually. Gotti was found guilty on 13 criminal counts in 1992 and died in federal prison at the age of 61.