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Prosecutors did not hide evidence by failing to ask New Hampshire Lottery Executive Director Charles McIntyre about calling Concord Casino owner Andy Sanborn a “lying sack of trash.”

Sanborn faces criminal charges for allegedly filing false financial information in order to get COVID relief money. He’s also fighting the state in court over the forced sale of his casino. His lawyers wanted to depose McIntyre, as well as Director of Taxpayer Services Lisa Crowley, claiming the state failed to pursue questions that could clear Sanborn during their separate interviews with investigators.  

Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger recently ruled that Sanborn’s defense lawyers are free to ask their own questions during witness testimony at trial, but they don’t have the right to get either McInTyre or Crowley to sit for sworn depositions. McIntyre expressed a personal animus toward Sanborn during his interview with investigators, which defense lawyers claim demonstrates a potentially disqualifying bias.

But Kissinger wrote in his order that Sanborn likely already knows if McIntyre does not like him as a person, and prosecutors are not responsible for plumbing the depths of their relationship.

“To the extent, for example, that the defendants seek to explore Mr. McIntyre’s alleged animus toward Mr. Sanborn, the Court finds that whatever animus exists is known to Mr. Sanborn and may be properly addressed in cross-examination,” Kissinger wrote.

Prosecutors have already had their knuckles rapped by Kissinger after he found they violated attorney-client privilege when executing a search warrant last year. 

“The Court finds that the NHAG exhibited gross negligence at several points throughout its execution of the warrant and subsequent taint review of the seized material that rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct,” Kissinger wrote in January.

Assistant Attorney General David Lovejoy and forensic accountant Don Swanson were both kicked off the case by Kissinger as a result.

McIntyre’s January 2024 interview with members of the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office included numerous anecdotes about Sanborn’s behavior and truthfulness. In one answer, McIntyre told investigators the Lottery Commission had long dealt with Sanborn’s non-compliance when it came to following audit and cash management regulations. For his part, Sanborn blamed the Lottery Commission for holding back his business, McIntyre said.

“I mean, certainly first the cash management, and then the expansion, where he basically lied to us and said: ‘Oh, you’re the last thing holding us up.’ And then I find out he didn’t get approval for his fire sprinkler system yet. It’s like: ‘You lying sack of trash.’ Like (sigh). Yeah, so, correct. It was, it was a constant catching up with him,” McIntyre said in the transcript.

McIntyre painted Sanborn as a difficult person who tried to bully his way through licensing procedures and audits with the Lottery Commission. He was constantly trying to get around the process by essentially calling ‘the manager,’ McIntyre said, including McIntyre’s own cell phone.

“I made the mistake of giving it to him, and I regretted it from that moment until I stopped answering his phone calls,” McIntyre said.

Sanborn even tried to use supposed political allies like House Speaker Sherman Packard (R-Londonderry) and former Gov. Chris Sununu to weigh in on his behalf, to no avail, McIntyre said.

“It was, like: ‘Oh, we’re going to bring the speaker in, you’re going to get yelled at.’ And the Speaker never said anything, he never said ‘You need to do this, you need to do this.’ (Packard) never once did. And Sununu, the same way. I don’t, like I said, I don’t want to waive a privilege, but he never asked me for any — to do anything for them,” McIntyre told the investigators.

Sanborn is a former Republican state senator whose career highlights include a failed bid for the GOP nomination in the First Congressional District in 2018. While a state senator for Bedford, Sanborn was investigated for alleged sexual harassment of a Senate intern in 2013, though he maintains it was a misunderstanding about a crude joke.

A Superior Court judge slammed the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office for prosecutorial misconduct in the Andy Sanborn criminal case, saying its mishandling of privileged communications seized through a warrant amounts to “gross negligence.”

Attorney General Formella’s office, on the other hand, says it’s a “simple mistake.”

“The Court finds that the NHAG exhibited gross negligence at several points throughout its execution of the warrant and subsequent taint review of the seized material that rises to the level of prosecutorial misconduct,” Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger wrote in an order released Wednesday.

Though Kissinger is not dismissing the charges against Sanborn as defense lawyers asked, the judge is disqualifying Assistant Attorney General David Lovejoy from the case and suppressing any evidence Lovejoy improperly viewed. Kissinger is also booting forensic accountant Don Swanson from the case as he also improperly viewed privileged material.

The documents in question include a confidential memo written by Sanborn’s defense lawyers analyzing the legal issues in the case. Financial documents improperly viewed by prosecutors reportedly lay out core defense strategies, according to Kissinger’s order.   

Michael Garrity, spokesman for the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, called Wednesday’s ruling a win since Kissinger did not dismiss the charges or order the state to pay attorney’s fees in the matter, as Sanborn’s team wanted. The fault for the prosecutorial misconduct rests with the software vendor the state used to handle documents, according to Garrity’s statement.

“What actually occurred was a simple mistake, which the New Hampshire DOJ deeply regrets. When the New Hampshire DOJ hired a third-party vendor to duplicate a database of seized materials, the contractor inadvertently included privileged documents. As soon as the NH DOJ became aware of the error, our prosecutors raised the issue in court and informed Mr. Sanborn’s lawyers and the Court, including the fact that one of our prosecutors and a forensic accountant inadvertently had contact with privileged documents.

“As a result, that prosecutor and the forensic accountant will no longer be involved in the case. This was not intentional misconduct, but a single, unintentional mistake that was promptly addressed,” Garrity said.

Zachary Hafer, Sanborn’s attorney, declined to comment when reached on Wednesday.

Sanborn is charged with theft by deception for allegedly filing a fraudulent application for state COVID relief money, taking more than $140,000 he was not entitled to for his Concord Casino. Sanborn’s Win Win Win LLC is also charged with theft by deception for the same alleged crime.

According to Kissinger’s order, parts of which are redacted, prosecutors failed from the start to take appropriate steps when they seized documents during the investigation. When investigators obtained a warrant to seize business documents from Sanborn, they did not tell the judge signing the warrant about the potential for attorney-client records being included, Kissinger found.

The exact date the warrant was issued, as well as the location it was executed, is redacted from the public order. Kissinger does state that both Andy Sanborn and his wife, Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford) were present when investigators seized the records.

Instead of having a taint team ready when the warrant was executed, the prosecutorial case team, led by Assistant Attorney General Dan Jiminez, did nothing to protect Sanborn’s rights until his lawyers complained, Kissinger found. The investigators even recorded the fact they were taking a desktop computer that displayed documents on the home screen marked “Zach,” or “Zach Hafer,” according to Kissinger.

Attorney-client communications are protected by law and, generally, cannot be disclosed without the permission of the client. The privilege is in place to safeguard the right to a fair trial. 

In cases where sensitive material, such as attorney-client communications, are potentially part of evidence in a criminal investigation, a taint team is used. Those teams are a separate group of lawyers called in to review all the material to separate out anything that legally ought not be seen or used by investigators and prosecutors.

The state did not act to protect the privileged documents until Sanborn’s lawyers contacted Jimenez on May 24. All investigators were then told not to view any of the documents, and then the taint team was assembled.

But Kissinger faults Jimenez for setting ground rules for the taint team’s disclosure decisions without consulting either a judge or Sanborn’s attorneys about what should be considered privileged before it was released. The taint team finished its work on July 9 and subsequently made the documents available through Everlaw, a legal document software program. 

First, on July 12, David Portal, Senior Infrastructure Technologist for the Attorney General’s Office, went through a document folder in Everlaw marked “clean” and deleted the privileged documents, according to the order. 

Sanborn’s lawyers filed their lawsuit over the privileged documents on July 30, under seal. After a review in August, Sanborn’s lawyers told the court there was a large volume of privileged material in the “clean folder.” On Sept. 19, Portal learned that the investigating case team prosecuting Sanborn made a copy of the “clean” folder before he deleted privileged documents on July 12, Kissinger states.

The dispute over the documents may explain why Sanborn has not been charged over allegations he committed federal COVID fraud.

Much of the privileged material prosecutors took deals with Sanborn’s defense against the New Hampshire Lottery Commission. The commission first accused Sanborn of improperly obtaining more than $840,000 in federal COVID funds and spending it on sports cars and paying himself rent. Before Kissinger made an order in the documents lawsuit, Sanborn was arrested for state-level fraud allegations.

Sanborn continues to fight over his now revoked casino license, claiming the state interfered with his efforts to sell his business. Sanborn was ordered to sell last year after an administrative law judge sided with the Lottery Commission. One of his appeals in the revocation fight is headed to the New Hampshire Supreme Court. 

After repeated deadlines and extensions, one-time casino operator Andy Sanborn’s luck appears to have run out. According to a new ruling from Administrative Law Judge (ALJ) Gregory Albert, he’s out of time to sell his Concord Casino before his gaming license is revoked.

Sanborn originally faced a Sept. 30 deadline to sell his Win Win Win LLC casino gaming license, a deadline that was extended, expired, and extended yet again. Now it looks like he’s crapped out.

The final extension Gregory granted to Sanborn allowed him to keep his gaming license past Sept. 30 while a prospective buyer underwent a suitability review. Sanborn then got another two weeks after the review to complete the sale. But the buyer failed that review, and now Sanborn’s time is up, Gregory wrote.

“The suitability review was completed on October 30, 2024. Fifteen calendar days following the suitability determination ended on November 15, 2024. Fifteen business days ended on November 21, 2024. As of the date of this order, both 15-day windows post-suitability have closed. Therefore, by virtue of the ALJ’s stay, WWW received the relief it requested: a delay of the revocation until the State’s suitability determination plus 15 (calendar or business) days,” Gregory wrote.

Andy Sanborn’s Concord Casino remains shuttered.

Sanborn was ordered to sell the casino last year after he was found to have engaged in misconduct related to $844,000 in federal COVID relief funds. Since then, Sanborn and Win Win Win were incited on state charges of theft for an alleged scheme to take about $140,000 in state COVID funds he wasn’t entitled to receive.

Sanborn and his lawyers are claiming the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office engaged in actions that prevented him from completing the sale before the deadline, including bringing the criminal indictments while the sale was pending.

But Gregory said the state’s actions are not for him to consider. His focus is on whether or not Sanborn’s deadline extension is even a live legal issue now that the last buyer failed the suitability review. It’s not, he concluded.

“Even assuming that WWW was the best actor and the State was the worst actor, it does not change the fact that WWW got the relief it sought: a suitability determination prior to revocation of the license,” Gregory wrote. 

Win Win Win is now a business without a gaming license and, therefore, virtually worthless. The criminal charges mean Sanborn could go to prison if convicted, and a future Win Win Win owner could possibly face hefty fines. 

Sanborn went to court last month, after his buyer failed the suitability review, asking for a waiver to indemnify any buyer from being responsible for the consequences of Sanborn’s alleged actions.

Sanborn’s lawyers have said they plan to challenge the suitability review, claiming the rejection of the buyer was based on an error. But without a gaming license it may not matter. Sanborn can always try his luck in court to keep the Win Win Win license.

Sanborn is a former Republican state senator who had plans to build a second, larger casino in Concord before his troubles started. According to records, Sanborn used the federal COVID money to pay himself more than $200,000 in rent using Win Win Win and another LLC he owns, The Best Revenge.

Win Win Win is the casino, and The Best Revenge owns the building where the casino is located. He also reportedly bought himself a Porsche and his wife, Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford), a Ferrari with the federal money.

With Andy Sanborn under criminal indictment and his business for sale, the former lawmaker and casino owner is asking a judge to grant him a crime waiver.

Sanborn’s legal team filed a new lawsuit against the state seeking a waiver for his business, not to get out of the criminal charges, but to keep the hope of any sale alive. Sanborn essentially wants a written promise that whoever buys his Win Win Win LLC won’t be held liable for the pending criminal charges.

“In order for the sale of WWW to proceed, Plaintiffs require relief in the form of declaratory judgment that NHLC and OAG cannot hold WWW’s buyer responsible for alleged conduct predating the acquisition,” Sanborn’s attorney Mark Knights wrote.

Sanborn and Win Win Win were both indicted last month on charges of allegedly stealing COVID relief money from the state by submitting false information to inflate revenue.

State law allows for a corporation to be criminally indicted for the actions of its directors or employees. Sanborn owns Win Win Win, the company that holds the gaming license for his Concord Casino. While Sanborn faces prison time for his charges if convicted, Win Win Win could face significant fines and other serious sanctions. 

Even the possibility of crippling fines and sanctions will drive off potential buyers, according to Knights, which makes the New Hampshire Attorney General’s decision to indict the Win Win Win corporation notable. The state is already forcing Sanborn to sell his business because of a different alleged COVID relief scam, and the indictments were handed up as Sanborn had a potential buyer going through the New Hampshire Lottery Commission license vetting process, according to the lawsuit.

That buyer, it turns out, was denied a gaming license during the suitability review process, though Sanborn’s lawyers have said the denial is based on a correctable error, and not anything negative in the buyer’s background. The buyer has not been identified.

All of this could be moot given that Sanborn has already missed the deadline to sell his casino business. In December, Sanborn’s gaming license was suspended, and he was given six months to sell Win Win Win. The gaining license is to be revoked completely if Sanborn misses that deadline, which would make Win Win Win virtually worthless.

Sanborn is seeking more time for the sale in order to get the potential buyer’s suitability issues corrected, and Hearings Officer Albert Gregory is currently considering legal issues surrounding that request. 

Sanborn’s troubles started last year after an audit found problems with the way the business was using COVID relief funds. Attorney General John Formella issued a statement declaring Sanborn unsuitable to hold a gaming license and accused him of improperly getting $844,000 in federal COVID funds. Sanborn reportedly used that money to pay himself through a different LLC, called The Best Revenge, and to buy sports cars for himself and his wife, Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford.)

Last December, Hearing Officer Michael King ruled Sanborn engaged in conduct that “undermines the public confidence in charitable gaming” and that he had to sell the business or lose the license. King’s ruling gave Sanborn six months to sell with the option of one, three-month extension of a sale was pending. 

Andy Sanborn drew another bad card and may have lost his stake.

Arrested last week for alleged COVID fraud, the former state senator and his casino business are now indicted on felony charges for stealing from the state. 

The indictments handed up by the grand jury this week are related to Sanborn’s alleged fake numbers in his application for the Main Street Relief Fund grants. According to the indictments, Sanborn allegedly inflated the receipts for his casino by more than $1 million, netting about $188,000 in grant funds he was not entitled to.

Sanborn’s Concord Casino is technically owned by Sanborn’s Win Win Win LLC. According to the indictments, Sanborn’s June 2020 application for the grant funds inflated the business receipts and wrongly claimed that Win Win Win had been in operation for at least a year.

Sanborn, as an individual, is indicted on one felony count of theft by deception, and his LLC is charged with one count of theft by deception and theft by unauthorized taking. The charges against Win Win Win, which holds his gaming license, could end his bid to sell the casino business.

Sanborn is under state order to sell the Concord Casino as the result of another fraud accusation. He allegedly applied for federal COVID relief funds to which he was not entitled, and then misspent the $844,000 on things like sports cars and car equipment. He also allegedly used his various LLCs to prepay himself about 20 years’ worth of rent.

Sanborn is due in court next week for an arraignment on the charges. 

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.”

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.

Sanborn’s latest official deadline to sell his Concord Casino passed two weeks ago on Sept. 30. Sanborn did get a vaguely defined extension from Administrative Law Judge Gregory Albert to keep his license pending a state review of the potential buyer’s suitability.

Last week, lawyers with the New Hampshire 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.

“Despite this conclusion, [Albert] then contradicted this conclusion by carrying out in practice what [Albert] stated he had no authority to do: the Order stayed the revocation penalty for 30 days after the notice of decision on a motion for rehearing, or if no motion for rehearing is filed, the 16th business day following the Order,” the Attorney General’s motion states.

Albert’s extension allows Sanborn to keep the suspended license until the state is done vetting the potential buyer.

Administrative Law Judges, also known as hearings officers, work for individual state agencies and handle legal questions on how different state laws and regulations are implemented. Officers conduct hearings, write legal opinions, and recommend policies and regulations. They can also impose discipline, such as in the Sanborn case.

Albert replaced retired Administrative Law Judge Michel King, who in December first suspended Sanborn’s gaming license and ordered Sanborn to sell the business. King gave the casino mini-magnate a six-month deadline to sell or face license revocation. 

King found Sanborn engaged in deception when he applied for the $844,000 in COVID loans, and that Sanborn spent the money inappropriately, including the purchase of a Porsche and a Ferrari. According to Formella, Sanborn’s wife, state Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford), got the Ferrari as a gift. The alleged COVID fraud first came to light during a state audit more than a year ago.

Sanborn has been getting license extensions since last summer, arguing he cannot sell the business without a license. He’s accused New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella of slowing the sales process. 

Sanborn, a Bedford Republican who was once a top player in state politics, is currently under criminal investigation for COVID relief fraud centered on his casino business. He hasn’t been charged with any crime.

Sanborn is also suing the Department of Justice over matters connected to the criminal investigation. The lawsuit is under seal, though some redacted documents may start getting released later this month. According to one document in the lawsuit that has been made public so far, there is a dispute over evidence seized by investigators, with Sanborn’s side claiming the state had legally privileged information, possibly such as attorney-client communications.

The public may get to see Andy Sanborn’s cards before he’s forced to fold ’em.

The former state senator and Concord Casino owner is suing the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office, but no one knows why just yet. Nearly the entire case is sealed in Merrimack Superior Court. 

At the same time, Sanborn is under state order to sell his business by the end of the month in the wake of accusations he took $844,000 in COVID relief funds and used the money to pay himself rent and purchase sports cars.

New Hampshire Bulletin’s Annmarie Timmins filed a motion to unseal the case. On Wednesday, Merrimack Superior Court Judge John Kissinger gave attorneys for Sanborn and the state until Oct. 3 to come up with proposed redacted versions of the lawsuit and pleadings. Kissinger said the case is potentially sensitive because it deals with an open criminal investigation, according to Concord Monitor reporting. 

Attorney General John Formella said last year he planned to investigate Sanborn for the alleged COVID fraud, though no charges have yet been filed. 

Sanborn’s lawyers reportedly said Wednesday they are seeking another extension on the deadline to sell the business.

This isn’t the first time the handling of documents has created problems in Sanborn’s case.

NHJournal first reported the story that Kissinger issued an Aug. 23 order instructing prosecutors to explain how documents from Sanborn’s lawyers considered legally privileged ended up with the state’s investigative team.

Among other steps Kissinger ordered, he wants 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’s order indicated there are close to 6,700 documents as part of the discovery in the ongoing investigation thus far. Some of them are in a commercial legal database program called Everlaw. It gives attorneys and law firms the ability to control and share information in large cases, and is frequently used to share discovery.

Prosecutors have been instructed to provide Kissinger with an audit of the state’s activity in the Sanborn Everlaw documents, showing which prosecutor viewed or downloaded any particular document.

Prosecutors involved in the Andy Sanborn criminal probe may have copies of potentially sensitive attorney-client communications.

Sanborn, a former Republican state senator, is at the center of a legal firestorm that began when New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella accused him of COVID-19 fraud last year. 

Sanborn filed a lawsuit in Merrimack Superior Court against Formella’s office this summer, but the pleadings in the case are almost entirely under seal. However, a recent court order from Judge John Kissinger sheds light on at least one aspect of the dispute.

Kissinger ordered prosecutors to explain how documents from Sanborn’s lawyers considered legally privileged ended up with the state’s investigative team. Among other steps Kissinger ordered, he wants 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 order.

Interior of Andy Sanborn’s Concord Casino visible from locked entrance.

Kissinger’s order indicated there are close to 6,700 documents as part of the discovery in the ongoing investigation thus far. Some of them in a commercial legal database program called Everlaw. Everlaw gives attorneys and law firms the ability to control and share information in large cases, and is frequently used to share discovery.

The order states that a taint team was handling discovery documents before handing them to prosecutors in the investigation. Prosecutorial taint teams are typically prosecutors not connected to the case that is under investigation. The taint team is supposed to read through and examine discovery, removing information considered privileged before giving the rest to the investigating team, or case team.  

Prosecutors have been instructed to provide Kissinger an audit of the state’s activity in the Sanborn Everlaw documents, showing which prosecutor viewed or downloaded any particular document. Sanborn’s legal team is under orders to provide Kissinger legal arguments for why the information should be privileged. 

Communication between lawyers and clients is privileged, meaning it does not have to be disclosed to police or prosecutors. That protection extends to evidence that can be obtained through discovery requests, subpoenas, and even in what is said in sworn depositions. Clients may waive the privilege protection if they choose.

After accusing Sanborn of making false statements in filing for business COVID relief funds, and then spending the part of the money on luxury sports cars, Formella announced his office would instigate a criminal investigation into Sanborn and his wife, state Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford.) Both Andy and Laurie Sanborn are owners of Win Win Win LLC/Concord Casino, the business that received $844,000 in COVID money.

Despite the public and damning allegations Formella made last year, neither Sanborn has yet been charged with a crime. Andy Sanborn’s New Hampshire Gaming License was suspended in December after an administrative hearing on Formella’s allegations.

Administrative Law hearing officer Michael King found Sanborn engaged in deception when he applied for the COVID loans, and that Sanborn spent the money inappropriately, including the purchase of a Porsche and a Ferrari. 

“The misrepresentations on the EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loan] application and the subsequent use of the proceeds for expenditures not allowed by that loan constitute ‘conduct by the licensee that undermines the public confidence in charitable gaming,’” King wrote in his order.

In addition to the sports cars, Sanborn allegedly paid himself $240,000 with the COVID funds by raising his own rent.

Sanborn owns the Casino through his Win Win Win LLC and he owns the Main Street building where his Concord Casino is located through an entity called The Best Revenge LLC. 

The original lease agreement between Win Win Win and The Best Revenge LLC was for $500 a month. But records showed Sanborn was making payments to himself ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 a month for rent. 

Sanborn claimed the 40-fold rent increase was due to his casino floor space increasing six and a half percent. While it was alleged Sanborn was diverting COVID money to himself through rent, King found Sanborn’s high rental payments to himself started in 2021 before he received any COVID cash.

Sanborn started making payments in November 2021, ranging from $5,000 to $22,000. Those payments were seen as “wildly excessive” by the state.

Sanborn has until the end of the month under King’s order to sell his Concord Casino or face having the license revoked. Without a license, Sanborn has no casino business to sell. 

He’s accused of COVID fraud and under orders to sell his Concord Casino. But former state Sen. Andy Sanborn just raised the bet.

Sanborn filed a new civil lawsuit against New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella in Merrimack Superior Court in Concord on July 30. Sanborn and his legal team are keeping their cards close to their vests. The complaint, as well as nearly all of the filings in the case, are sealed.

Mark Knights, one of Sanborn’s lawyers, declined to comment when contacted by NHJournal. The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office did not respond to a request for comment as well.

What is known about the case from the publicly available information is that Sanborn is seeking an injunction of some kind, presumably to block the state from taking a particular action. Additionally, the Attorney General’s Office has prosecutors Dan Jimenez, David Lovejoy, and Alex Kellerman assigned to the case. Jimenez is part of the Public Integrity Unit which investigates wrongdoing by public officials. Lovejoy is part of the Criminal Justice Bureau. Kellerman is a former corporate attorney now working for the attorney general.

Sanborn’s legal drama began a year ago when Formella publicly accused Sanborn and his wife, state Rep. Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford), of COVID relief fraud. According to Formella, the couple took $844,000 in COVID relief payments for their Concord Casino and used the money to pay themselves via rent and buy themselves sports cars.

The Sanborns deny wrongdoing and have yet to be charged with a crime. However, the state pushed to take away the Concord Casino gambling license based on the alleged fraud. In December 2023, Administrative Law hearing officer Michael King found Sanborn engaged in deception when he applied for the COVID loans and that Sanborn spent the money inappropriately.

“The misrepresentations on the EIDL [Economic Injury Disaster Loan] application and the subsequent use of the proceeds for expenditures not allowed by that loan constitute ‘conduct by the licensee that undermines the public confidence in charitable gaming,’” King wrote in his order.

Aside from using the money to buy a Porsche and a Ferrari, Sanborn allegedly paid himself $240,000 with the COVID funds by raising his own rent.

Sanborn owns the Casino through his Win Win Win LLC and he owns the Main Street building where his Concord Casino is located through an entity called The Best Revenge LLC. 

The original lease agreement between Win Win Win and The Best Revenge LLC was for $500 a month. But records showed Sanborn was making payments to himself ranging from $10,000 to $30,000 a month for rent. 

Sanborn claimed the 40-fold rent increase was due to his casino floor space increasing six and a half percent. While it was alleged Sanborn was diverting COVID money to himself through rent, King found Sanborn’s high rental payments to himself started in 2021 before he received any COVID cash.

Sanborn started making payments in November 2021, ranging from $5,000 to $22,000. Those payments were seen as “wildly excessive” by the state.

Sanborn’s casino license was suspended and he was given six months to sell his business. That deadline has been pushed to the end of September as Sanborn continues to fight with the Attorney General’s Office. 

The state has been trying to exert influence over the sale, according to NH Bulletin reporting, while potential buyers have been scared off by the potential criminal charges. Sanborn’s lawyers have accused the state of trying to stop any sale out of spite. 

If Sanborn is unable to sell his business by the Sept. 30 deadline, his gaming license will expire, and he would not have a casino business to sell.

Andy Sanborn, who ran a failed bid for the GOP nomination in the First Congressional District in 2018, has a troubled past in politics. He was investigated for alleged sexual harassment of a Senate intern in 2013, though he maintains it was a misunderstanding about a joke.

When Sanborn first got his casino license in 2018, the harassment incident came back. That time he was investigated for allegedly bribing one of the witnesses. He was cleared of the bribery accusation, but the New Hampshire Lottery Commission was concerned about his suitability to hold a license. According to Commission records, one of the 2018 witnesses told investigators she was warned not to be alone with Sanborn when she started her job in the State House.