Andy Sanborn’s luck avoiding criminal charges crapped out Wednesday when the casino owner was arrested on one count of theft by deception for allegedly lying on a COVID relief application.
It’s the first criminal charge against the former Republican state senator since he came under scrutiny from state investigators last year. And the state may be ready to double down.
Michael Garrity, communications director for the New Hampshire Department of Justice, said Wednesday the investigation into Sanborn and his Concord Casino is active and ongoing.
More than a year ago, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella announced the investigation into Sanborn and his wife, state Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford), after irregularities were found during a state audit of the casino. At the time, Formella accused Sanborn of accepting $844,000 in federal COVID funds and then spending the cash on sports cars and other inappropriate items. Sanborn allegedly prepaid himself hundreds of thousands of dollars in rent for the business with the COVID cash.
Thursday’s charge alleges a different COVID scam. According to a Department of Justice statement, Sanborn lied on his application for a state Main Street Relief Fund grant. Sanborn allegedly inflated his casino revenue by $1 million. That bluff paid off when the grant came in, and Sanborn got $188,474 more in grants than he was entitled to, according to the statement.
In December, Sanborn was ordered to sell the Concord Casino after Administrative Law Judge Michael King ruled he had engaged in COVID fraud. Sanborn’s “Win Win Win LLC” gaming license was suspended, and he was given a 6-month deadline to sell the business.
Since then, Sanborn has requested multiple deadline extensions and is currently using an extension to give a potential casino buyer more time to undergo a state review of his suitability. Administrative Law Judge Gregory Albert issued the extension.
Last week, lawyers with the Attorney General’s Office filed a motion seeking clarity on Albert’s extension, citing the fact Albert himself wrote in his extension order that he lacks the legal authority to grant Sanborn extra time.
Former GOP state Sen. Andy Sanborn’s most recent deadline extension on the order to sell his Concord Casino may have broken the rules, according to the administrative judge who gave him that extension.
Meanwhile, Sanborn is suing the state over aspects of how it has handled his case, and at least one issue has arisen.
Judge John Kissinger has ordered prosecutors to explain how documents from Sanborn’s lawyers that could be considered legally privileged ended up in the hands of the state’s investigative team. Kissinger ordered the state to provide to the court “factual affidavits on issues related to the past handling of seized documents and materials (including electronically stored information), as well as how clearly privileged documents may have been missed or not properly screened by the taint team,” Kissinger wrote in an Aug. 23 document.
All of which points to a conspiracy by the state to strip Sanborn of his license rather than allow him to sell his valuable asset, Sanborn’s attorneys say.
In an email to New Hampshire Bulletin, Sanborn’s attorneys, Zachary Hafer and Adam Katz, wrote:
“In an eleventh-hour attempt to sabotage a sale of Win Win Win, the same AG who has been enjoined repeatedly for violations of Mr. Sanborn’s constitutional rights by three New Hampshire superior court judges, who has had his legal positions soundly rejected time and again by administrative law judges (overseeing the licensing case), and whose office is currently facing potential sanctions for prosecutorial misconduct, has now arrested Mr. Sanborn on the eve of a sale to a qualified buyer.
“We are disappointed, but not surprised. And we remain confident that the New Hampshire judiciary will continue to do justice and hold the AG accountable.”
