Andy Sanborn, a former New Hampshire state senator and proprietor of the Concord Casino, admitted guilt on Tuesday (July 7) to a federal charge related to the misappropriation of pandemic relief funds.
According to prosecutors, Sanborn misallocated more than $255,000 towards personal expenditures. Investigations revealed that he purchased two Porsches and a Ferrari for himself and his wife, Laurie Sanborn.
The former Republican legislator, who styled himself as the “Conservative conscience” of the New Hampshire Senate, is facing a suggested prison term of one year and one day as per his plea agreement.
As part of the plea deal, prosecutors have decided against filing charges against Laurie Sanborn or the Concord Casino.
Win Win Win
During the pandemic, Sanborn applied for and received a total of $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funds from the Small Business Administration on behalf of Win Win Win, the entity that operated the Concord Casino.
On the loan application, prosecutors allege that Sanborn characterized his business as “miscellaneous services” rather than naming it as the Concord Casino, knowing that charitable gaming venues were ineligible for such funding.
“This casino proprietor must have believed he struck gold when he secured over a quarter-million dollars designated to stabilize businesses during a pandemic devastating our economy,” remarked Ted E. Docks, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Boston Division, in a statement.
“However, the odds eventually caught up with him when he misused that funding for personal gain.”
Challenges Facing Concord
When the allegations surfaced, Sanborn was in the process of seeking approval for a significantly larger charitable gaming complex in Concord, a venture that collapsed when regulators deemed him unsuitable for a gaming license.
In December 2023, the state mandated the closure of Concord Casino and provided Sanborn with six months to sell it to an approved buyer. The establishment has remained shut since regulators blocked its sale to an unidentified buyer.
In October 2024, state prosecutors lodged a separate felony charge of theft by deception against Sanborn, alleging he inflated his business revenue to extract approximately $188,000 more than entitled from New Hampshire’s Main Street Relief Fund. Some of that money was directed towards paying the mortgage on a lakefront property in Laconia owned by Laurie Sanborn.
Sanborn’s trial for the state charges is scheduled for February 2027, and he is set to be sentenced on the federal charge on October 15, 2026.