Concord Casino owner Andy Sanborn intends to plead guilty to federal charges accusing him of misusing pandemic relief funds, including spending a portion of the money to purchase a Porsche for his personal use.
Sanborn, a former state senator, was charged with one count of theft of government funds in the U.S. District Court in Concord
During the COVID emergency, Sanborn applied for and received $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funding from the Small Business Administration to be used as working capital for his business, Win Win Win, which owned and operated the Concord Casino, according to court documents.
Sanborn plans to admit that he diverted more than $255,000 of those funds toward personal expenses. For example, he spent $48,750 on a 2006 Porsche Cayman in 2022, federal prosecutors stated.
Under a signed plea agreement, Sanborn faces a prison sentence of one year and a day and could be held liable for the $255,232.72 he misappropriated.
The agreement also states that prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against the Concord Casino or against his wife, Laurie Sanborn, a former state representative.
Sanborn’s attorneys could not be reached for a comment.
By contrast, a California man was sentenced in 2023 to serve 41 months in prison for making lavish purchases with CARES Act funds. Rogers obtained $803,756 in COVID relief funding and spent $107,780 to purchase a 2011 Rolls Royce Ghost and approximately another $56,000 to purchase a Porsche, which is less than what Sanborn is accused of stealing.
Other charges
The federal charges come nearly three years after an eight-month state investigation first revealed that Sanborn had fraudulently obtained federal pandemic loans for his casino.
The money was intended to help struggling small businesses, not casinos. New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella made a criminal referral to the United States Attorney’s Office after the state investigation was completed.
State investigators accused Sanborn of misrepresenting his business on the federal application, omitting the trade name “Concord Casino” and listing the business activity as “Miscellaneous Services.”
The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Hampshire has charged more than 15 people in connection with stealing federal pandemic relief funds.
Money distributed through the Paycheck Protection Program and Economic Injury Disaster Loan program under the $2.2 trillion CARES Act was intended to help small businesses survive the economic disruption caused by COVID-19.
But with billions of dollars made available in emergency aid, hundreds of millions ultimately fell into the hands of fraudsters.
Federal court records do not mention two additional luxury vehicles that were purchased with pandemic relief funds.
Sanborn and his company, Win Win Win, also face separate state theft charges related to New Hampshire’s Main Street Relief Fund program.
Prosecutors accuse him of inflating the company’s value by approximately $1 million to secure more pandemic relief money than he was entitled to receive.
Sanborn and Win Win Win misrepresented financial data in their application for the relief program designed to help New Hampshire small businesses weather COVID-19 disruptions, according to the state’s indictment.
Records from the investigation also show that some of the state pandemic relief money was used to pay off a mortgage on a private lakefront property in Laconia owned by his wife.
Jury selection in the state case is scheduled for September, with the trial currently set for February.
The new federal charges were announced as part of the National Fraud Enforcement Division’s efforts to be “laser-focused on investigating and prosecuting those who commit fraud against the American people.”
