Grandson of Notorious Mob Boss John Gotti Sentenced to Prison for Covid-19 Relief Fund Scam and Crypto Investment Scheme

Carmine Agnello, grandson of the notorious John Gotti, has received a 15-month prison sentence for his role in defrauding the US government's Covid-19 relief funding system of $1.1 million, which he 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, then diverted the funds for personal use, including a $420,000 investment in a cryptocurrency business. The fraud occurred between April 2020 and November 2021, with Agnello falsely claiming the funds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens. 'During the height of the pandemic, the defendant disgracefully used government and taxpayer dollars for personal gain, which he must now repay as part of his sentence,' said United States Attorney Joseph Nocella. Agnello's case is not an isolated incident, as numerous individuals have been caught defrauding the government's Covid relief funds, including Bruce Choi, who illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-related business loans to buy cryptocurrency, and David T. Hines, who used $3.9 million in relief 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 powerful figure in organized crime, earning an estimated $500 million annually from various illicit activities, including extortion, gambling, and stock fraud, before being convicted and sentenced to federal prison, where he died of cancer at the age of 61.