Former state Sen. Andy Sanborn and his wife, current Rep. Laurie Sanborn, in 2019, at their casino in Concord, which the state forced him to close in January over allegations of pandemic loan fraud. (Courtesy of Geoff Forester | Concord Monitor)
Concord Casino owner Andy Sanborn’s arrest Oct. 16 for alleged pandemic fraud is the most recent but not sole COVID-19 fraud case brought by state and federal authorities in New Hampshire since 2022.
In all, authorities have announced charges against at least 17 other individuals.
But the charges against Sanborn, of Bedford, are unique when it comes to individuals charged by the state, and if he is charged on federal crimes, that case would likely play out far differently than the other federal cases.
Among those charged by the state, Sanborn is the only person whose fraud charges are connected with pandemic assistance given to businesses. The seven others indicted by the state were charged with misrepresenting their employment during the pandemic and collecting unemployment benefits they were not entitled to.
Should Sanborn also see federal charges, he’s likely to wage a legal fight not seen in the 10 cases brought by the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Hampshire. Each of those defendants pleaded guilty, and if Sanborn’s current legal strategy holds, he is unlikely to.
Here are three takeaways from the case against Sanborn case versus the others.
A surprise arrest
The fraud charges the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office arrested Sanborn on were not the ones people expected.
For the last 14 months, that office has talked publicly about a single fraud investigation involving Sanborn’s use of nearly $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loans. In that case, the state alleges, Sanborn misrepresented the nature of his business on his loan application knowing that casinos were not eligible and then used the money to enrich himself.
His purchases allegedly included three race cars, two Porsches and a Ferrari for his wife, Rep. Laurie Sanborn, that totaled $181,250.
The state has not charged Sanborn in that case, but that investigation led Attorney General John Formella and the New Hampshire Lottery Commission to move last August to revoke Sanborn’s gaming license.
A judge stopped short of that and instead ordered Sanborn to shutter his casino by January and sell his business by September. His lawyers are pushing for more time, saying Sanborn has a buyer who will close the sale as soon as the Attorney General’s Office approves him for a gaming license.
Sanborn’s attorneys have sued the Attorney General’s Office in superior court in an effort to disqualify the investigative team on that case or suppress the evidence it collected while executing a search warrant in May.
They allege the state failed to ensure that confidential records between Sanborn and his attorneys that were seized in May did not reach the investigative team.
The timing of Sanborn’s arrest coincides with a key moment in the civil case, where a judge has been asked to determine whether the state should face penalties for the way it carried out its search in May.
During an August hearing, Merrimack County Superior Court Judge John Kissinger told state prosecutors, “(It’s) pretty clear that I have some concerns about the process that was followed,” according to a transcript of the hearing.
The charges brought against Sanborn on Oct. 16 allege he defrauded a different pandemic relief program, the Main Street Relief Fund, intended to help small businesses. The Attorney General’s Office had not disclosed that investigation previously.
The state’s pandemic relief tracker shows that Andy Sanborn’s Concord Casino, registered as Win Win Win, received $286,682 from the federal Main Street Relief Fund. The Attorney General’s Office, which has charged Sanborn with theft in connection with the payment, said that’s almost $190,000 more than he was entitled to. (Screenshot)
Those two indictments allege Sanborn committed theft by deception and theft by unauthorized taking by inflating his casino’s gross receipts by nearly $1 million in order to increase his grant from Main Street Relief Fund. As a result, Sanborn’s $286,600 payment from that program was $188,474 more than it should have been, according to the state.
The state has also alleged that Sanborn misstated on his application that Win Win Win had been operating at least a year, as required to be eligible for the program.
In an application for an arrest warrant, an investigator for the Attorney General’s Office wrote that $177,000 was transferred from the account holding the Main Street Relief Fund’s money to the Sanborns’ personal bank account.
The investigator wrote the money “appears to have been used to pay off a private mortgage on a lakefront property owned by (the Sanborns) in Laconia.”
The state has not indicated whether it is looking at the nearly $31,000 in Main Street Relief Fund money Sanborn received for three other real estate-related businesses and a tech repair company.
Nor has it indicated whether it is investigating the nearly $15,000 Sanborn received from a different relief program for his Concord restaurant, The Draft.
Asked for comment, Sanborn’s lawyers, Zachary Hafer and Adam Katz, said in an email: “Mr. Sanborn denies the charges and looks forward to his day in court.”
Sanborn is scheduled to be arraigned on Wednesday’s charges on Oct. 29, according to a court spokesperson.
The Attorney General’s Office did not respond to an email with questions about the charges Friday.
Sanborn would likely fight federal charges — aggressively
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Hampshire has secured guilty verdicts in pandemic fraud cases against at least 10 individuals since 2022. None went through a trial because all 10 pleaded guilty.
Federal prosecutors have not charged Sanborn but they have executed a search warrant against him, according to a court record. If Sanborn’s legal response so far is any indication, he is unlikely to plead guilty if he is charged with federal crimes
For more than a year, his attorneys have mounted a considerable fight against the New Hampshire Lottery Commission and the state Attorney General’s Office, filing thousands of pages of legal documents and arguing their points in courtrooms, in licensing hearings, and in calls with lottery officials and prosecutors.
The team, which also includes Mark Knights, has chalked up several wins, from preserving Sanborn’s gaming license so he could sell his casino, to getting him more time to sell, to seemingly persuading a superior court judge that the Attorney General’s Office erred in its collection and review of Sanborn’s documents.
Here’s how the U.S. Attorney’s Office’s other cases have played out:
Earlier this year, Tammy and David Dodge, of Derry, pleaded guilty to attempting to fraudulently obtain $2.5 million from various pandemic relief programs, including the Paycheck Protection Program (PPP), the Economic Injury Disaster Loans (EIDL) fund, and pandemic relief grants from the state according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Tammy Dodge was sentenced to a year in prison, while her husband received a three-year sentence. They were ordered to pay nearly $219,320 in restitution, the amount they obtained.
Matthew Dispensa, of Hudson, pleaded guilty in February to defrauding or attempting to defraud some of the same programs. He ultimately obtained $342,650 by submitting fake financial records for a company that earned no income and showed no business activity.
Heath Gauthier, of Rochester, also pleaded guilty to federal pandemic fraud charges in February. He applied for more than $1 million in PPP and EIDL loans for non-existent companies using the identities of people who were dead.
In June, he was sentenced to more than 12 years in prison in connection with those charges and possesion of child abuse materials.
Anthony Silva, of Hampton, was sentenced to seven years in federal prison in May for using stolen identities to obtain nearly $1.2 million in pandemic aid. Silva was ordered to pay restitution, and forfeit funds held at various banks totaling approximately $830,000.
Last year, Michael Rosa, of Salem, and George Adyns, of Sandown, pleaded guilty to defrauding the state of unemployment benefits of nearly $50,000.
In early 2023 Pierre Rogers, of California, was sentenced in New Hampshire to 41 months in federal prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and bank fraud in connection with $4.8 million in applications for PPP and EIDL loans. His co-defendant, Joshua Leavitt, of Northwood, also pleaded guilty.
In 2022, Charles Clark, of Merrimack, pleaded guilty to federal charges for obtaining $62,000 in an EIDL loan by claiming he was an independent contractor in the hair and nail salon industry when he was actually a full-time IRS employee. He used the money to renovate an investment property he owned.
This is a first for the state
In 2022 and 2023, the state brought 11 pandemic fraud related charges against seven individuals. Each person was indicted on charges of defrauding the state of unemployment benefits.
Angel Marcelino, formerly of Salem, collected 52 weeks of unemployment benefits totaling $36,904 by misrepresenting his employment status, the state said. His attempt to claim an additional $11,794 failed when the state detected the discrepancy during a review.
Marcelino pleaded guilty in January.
Luis J. Avendano, of Manchester, received about $27,240 in unemployment compensation benefits during weeks when he earned over $47,000 in wages, the state said. Avendano pleaded guilty last year to two counts of unemployment compensation fraud.
Juan M. Nunez, of Massachusetts, collected $18,337 for 31 weeks of benefits he was not entitled to, the state said. Nunez pleaded guilty to one count of unemployment compensation fraud last year.
Wayne P. Hamilton, of East Hampstead, received $36,177 over 51 weeks by misrepresenting his employment status, the state said. He pleaded guilty in May.
Ernest J. Gray, formerly of Florida, was charged with two counts of unemployment compensation fraud. He allegedly received 50 weeks of unemployment benefits worth $33,400 by claiming he was unemployed when he was not.
Gray failed to appear for his arraignment last year. The court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Nicholas C. Martin, of Nashua, collected $17,650 in unemployment benefits he was not entitled to, according to the state. Martin also failed to appear for his arraignment. The court issued a warrant for his arrest.
Erica Hebert, formerly of Laconia, obtained nearly $13,000 in benefits, including enhanced pandemic payments, by claiming she was unemployed when she had a fulltime job, according to a press release the state issued in March 2023. Hebert pleaded guilty in March to unemployment compensation fraud and identity fraud.
According to the Attorney General’s Office, the individuals who were convicted received sentences ranging from 21 days in jail up to a two-year deferred prison sentence. They were also ordered to pay restitution.
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