What to know : Carmine G. Agnello, grandson of mob boss John J. Gotti, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for fraudulently obtaining $1.1 million in Covid relief funds and investing much of it in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors said Agnello submitted false information to the Small Business Administration between April 2020 and November 2021, claiming the money was for his Queens auto parts and recycling business, including employee salaries. The case comes amid widespread fraud in pandemic aid programs, with the Government Accountability Office estimating that roughly $135 billion, or up to 15 percent of Covid relief funds, was lost to scams.
Carmine Agnello, the mob boss John Gotti’s grandson, was sentenced to 15 months in prison for defrauding the U.S. government’s Covid relief funding system out of $1.1 million, proceeds which he used to invest in crypto, the Department of Justice said.
In a statement released Monday, the U.S. Attorney's Eastern District of New York office said Agnello fraudulently obtained multiple disaster relief loans from the government’s Small Business Administration (SBA) and used the funds in cryptocurrency investments.
Gotti’s grandson “diverted [the proceeds] for his personal use, including by investing approximately $420,000 in a cryptocurrency business,” the attorney’s office said.
The fraudster, who will turn himself in for imprisonment on July 1, submitted false information to the SBA between April 2020 and November 2021, stating the proceeds were for his autoparts and recycling business in Queens, including for employee salaries.
“During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the defendant shamefully lined his own pockets with government and taxpayers’ dollars, which he must repay as part of today’s sentence,” United States Attorney Joseph Nocella said.
“Mr. Agnello defrauded a program designed to assist businesses and employees during the pandemic,” stated United States Postal Inspection Service, New York Division (USPIS) Inspector in Charge Larco-Ward.
Agnello is not the only individual to have defrauded the government’s Covid relief fund. Among several cases that ended up in court, Bruce Choi’s stands out as he illegally obtained $2 million in pandemic-eric business loans on behalf of non-existent companies and used the money to buy cryptocurrency via Kraken. David T. Hines fraudulently obtained $3.9 million from similar relief funds and used some of the proceeds to purchase a Lamborghini.
Based on statistics from the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO), fraud against Covid-related relief funds was rampant, with roughly $135 billion, or up to 15% of the total funds, lost to scams.
Agnello’s grandfather exerted power with brutal violence and enjoyed the spotlight. He took over the Gambino, running enterprises that authorities claimed earned him roughly $500 million a year from ventures that included extorting unions, illegal gambling, loan-sharking and stock fraud. In 1992, Gotti was found guilty on 13 criminal counts and sent to federal prison, where he died of cancer at age 61.
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