Prosecutors allege Sanborn inflated revenues at both Concord Casino and Draft Sports Bar to secure $286,682 through the Main Street Relief Fund
The felonies filed against Andy Sandborn allege that Sandborn used some of the pandemic relief aid to pay off a private mortgage on a Laconia lakefront property owned by his wife, seven-term state Rep. Laurie Sanborn. He was accused of using it.
Prosecutors said Sanborn used the Concord Casino and his landmark store to secure $286,682 through the Main Street Relief Fund, a program aimed at helping small businesses during the pandemic. It claims it inflated its revenue at both a draft sports bar.
Three months after receiving the funds, Sanborn paid $177,000 to pay off the mortgage on a three-bedroom seasonal property overlooking Lake Winnipesaukee that Laurie Sanborn bought in 2015, according to court documents. Transferred dollars to a personal account.
In addition to state relief funds, Sanborn also received a Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) loan, which was later forgiven.
Court documents show that five years after his term ended, Sanborn complained to the Department of Revenue about having to repay some state funds while calling himself a “state senator.” It has become.
He also asked his accountant, David Penchanski, for advice on repaying the loan.
“We are concerned that we will have to pay back the entire amount (revenue was not down 25%), but we still spent the money as we should (even during the shutdown we paid our employees But now the state is saying, “You have until April 15th to make the full repayment,” Sanborn wrote to Penchanski in 2021. “We don’t have any money,” he said.
The communications were received as part of a search warrant approved in February by Judge John Kissinger that authorized the seizure of records from the accounting firm Penchansky & Company PLLC, which Sanborn had used since 2007. Ta.
“If I earned less in 2020, will the amount I have to pay be prorated in some way, or will I not pay it back at all?” Laurie Sanborn wrote in an email to her accountant in 2021 I asked about repayment of state funds in 2019.
Sanborn’s company, WIN WIN WIN LLC, which operates Concord Casino and The Draft on South Main Street, reported in the grant application that the companies had gross revenue of $3,169,209 in 2019. did. In fact, his gross income for the year totaled just $2,071,328. , according to court documents.
This false reporting allowed Sanborn to receive an additional amount of money than his business could receive through the Main Street Relief Fund. Had his true income been reported, he would have been entitled to just $98,208.
But the Sanborns did more than just inflate their income, investigator Alison Vachon wrote in the probable cause statement for Sanborn’s arrest. They also misrepresented key operational details to secure state funds and federal tax returns.
The Main Street Relief Fund was designed to help businesses with gross receipts of less than $20 million, provided they had been in business for at least one year before May 29, 2020. However, Sanborn’s casino did not meet that requirement.
In an email exchange between Sanborn and his tax accountant, Sanborn said, “Casinos were only open for six months in 2019 and 12 months in 2020 (and were profitable anyway). ” he said.
The Concord Casino has only been in operation since June 2019, according to the New Hampshire Lottery Commission.
This investigation began as a result of a compliance audit of Concord Casino by the Lottery Commission in fall 2022.
As part of the investigation, the Sanborn family’s business bank accounts and personal accounts were subpoenaed.
After the state funds were deposited into WIN WIN WIN LLC’s bank account, $92,000 was withdrawn and deposited into The Draft’s account.
Sanborn is free on bail and is scheduled to be arraigned in Merrimack Superior Court in November.
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