After years of vehemently denying any wrongdoing, Concord Casino owner and former state Senator Andy Sanborn has agreed to plead guilty to a federal criminal charge for misusing more than $250,000 in pandemic relief loans intended for his business, the U.S. Attorney’s office announced Tuesday. Among the personal expenses Sanborn will admit to funding with the government money: a Porsche.
According to NHPR, federal prosecutors announced the plea agreement on May 26, 2026, marking a significant reversal for Sanborn, who had aggressively contested fraud allegations since 2023. The case was brought under the National Fraud Enforcement Division, a new federal agency created on April 7, 2026, that focuses specifically on misuse of federal benefits.
What Sanborn Admitted To
Under the terms of the plea agreement filed in U.S. District Court in Concord, Sanborn will admit to one count of theft of government funds. The charge stems from his handling of $844,000 in Economic Injury Disaster Loan funding he received from the Small Business Administration during the COVID pandemic.
The loans were granted to Win Win Win, LLC, the company Sanborn owned and operated as the Concord Casino. They were designated as working capital for the business. Instead, Sanborn diverted $255,232.72 of those funds toward personal expenses.
The federal charging document specifically identifies the purchase of a 2006 Porsche Cayman for $48,750 in 2022. Separate state court documents from the earlier gaming license revocation proceeding paint a fuller picture of how Sanborn spent the money: $181,000 on two Porsches and a Ferrari for his wife; $45,000 on car parts and automotive services; $183,500 in rent payments routed to his own businesses; and nearly $30,000 for engineering services connected to a construction project at his casino.
The federal plea agreement covers the $255,232.72 figure and focuses on the Porsche purchase rather than the full range of alleged misuse documented in the state proceedings.
Sentencing and Terms of the Deal
Under the signed plea agreement, federal prosecutors will recommend that Sanborn serve one year and one day in prison. The formal maximum sentence for a theft of government funds conviction is up to 10 years, giving the judge discretion to impose a harsher term. Sanborn also faces a potential fine of up to $250,000 and will be required to pay restitution in the amount of $255,232.72.
One significant benefit for Sanborn’s family: the agreement explicitly states that prosecutors will not pursue criminal charges against his wife, former state House member Laurie Sanborn, and will not pursue charges against the Concord Casino entity itself. Laurie Sanborn has not been charged in connection with the pandemic loan investigation, though state court documents had previously referenced purchases made for her, including the Ferrari.
Sanborn and his attorneys could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
A Long Road to a Guilty Plea
The fraud allegations against Andy Sanborn have been in the public domain for nearly three years. In September 2023, New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella first announced the allegations, accusing Sanborn of using pandemic aid to enrich himself and purchasing a Ferrari for his wife. The state moved simultaneously to revoke his gaming license.
Sanborn’s Concord Casino was shut down in December 2023 after the New Hampshire Lottery Commission formally revoked his license to operate. He has been appealing that revocation in the New Hampshire Supreme Court, and that case remains pending.
Throughout the legal proceedings, Sanborn maintained he had done nothing wrong and fought the allegations at every turn. He appeared in court for state proceedings only sporadically, citing illness for numerous missed hearings over an approximately 17-month stretch. The shift to a guilty plea in the federal case represents a decisive change of course.
The federal case is separate from ongoing state criminal charges. Sanborn is also accused in Merrimack County Superior Court of defrauding the state’s Main Street Relief Fund, a different pandemic assistance program for New Hampshire businesses. In that case, prosecutors allege he misrepresented his casino’s gross receipts by nearly $1 million in order to inflate his grant by approximately $188,474. Those state charges remain unresolved.
Part of a Larger Pattern of NH Pandemic Fraud
The Sanborn case is the highest-profile, but far from the only, pandemic relief fraud prosecution in New Hampshire. Between 2022 and 2024, the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Hampshire secured guilty pleas from at least 10 individuals, some of whom used the same Economic Injury Disaster Loan program that Sanborn tapped.
The cases run the spectrum from opportunistic individuals to more organized schemes. Heath Gauthier, of Rochester, pleaded guilty to applying for more than $1 million in pandemic assistance on behalf of non-existent companies. Tammy and David Dodge, of Derry, pleaded guilty to attempting to obtain $2.5 million from multiple pandemic relief programs. Pierre Rogers, of California, was sentenced in New Hampshire federal court to 41 months in prison for conspiracy to commit wire fraud in connection with $4.8 million in pandemic aid applications.
Charles Clark, a Merrimack resident who was a full-time IRS employee, pleaded guilty to fraudulently obtaining $62,000 by falsely claiming to be an independent contractor in the hair and nail salon industry. He used the money to renovate an investment property.
What distinguishes Sanborn’s case is both the dollar amount involved and his public profile. He served multiple terms in the state Senate as a Republican representing Concord-area communities and was a visible figure in New Hampshire politics for years. His wife, Laurie Sanborn, served in the state House. The family’s downfall from political prominence to federal guilty plea has unfolded in a series of increasingly damaging public disclosures over three years.
What Comes Next
A formal sentencing hearing will need to be scheduled after Sanborn enters his guilty plea in federal court. The plea agreement’s recommended sentence of one year and one day is below federal sentencing guidelines for a theft of this size, suggesting prosecutors agreed to a reduced recommendation in exchange for the plea. The judge is not bound by the recommendation.
The state gambling license revocation appeal and the separate state criminal charges remain active proceedings. If the state charges proceed to trial or another resolution, Sanborn will face additional potential penalties beyond the federal sentence.
For New Hampshire, the case serves as a reminder that pandemic relief programs, rushed out with minimal verification in 2020 and 2021 to prevent economic collapse, were vulnerable to abuse at every level of society, from anonymous applicants filing fictitious claims to well-connected businesspeople treating federal loans as personal slush funds. The new National Fraud Enforcement Division that announced Tuesday’s charges was created specifically to continue pursuing those cases years after the pandemic emergency ended.
New Hampshire has also been debating the future of casino gambling more broadly. A separate proposal to bring casino gambling to Littleton has revived longstanding debates about the industry’s place in the state’s economic and regulatory landscape. Meanwhile, the NH Legislature heads into its final stretch of the 2026 session with dozens of bills still unresolved.
