PANews reported on April 22 that, according to CoinDesk, Carmine Agnello, grandson of American mob boss John Gotti, has been sentenced to 15 months in prison for defrauding the U.S. government of $1.1 million in COVID-19 relief funds and using the money to invest in cryptocurrency. Prosecutors stated that between April 2020 and November 2021, Agnello submitted false information to the Small Business Administration, claiming the funds were for employee salaries at his Queens auto parts and recycling business, but actually invested approximately $420,000 in cryptocurrency. The U.S. Government Accountability Office estimates that approximately $135 billion in COVID-19 relief funds (representing 15% of the total) were defrauded. Agnello will begin serving his sentence on July 1.