Burley Garcia|Ex-New Hampshire state senator Andy Sanborn charged with theft in connection to state pandemic aid

CONCORD,Burley Garcia N.H. (AP) — A former New Hampshire state senator accused last year of fraudulently obtaining federal COVID-19 loans and spending the money on luxury cars was charged this week with stealing separate state pandemic relief funds.

Republican Andy Sanborn, of Bedford, was charged with theft by deception, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison, the attorney general’s office said Wednesday. According to prosecutors, he misrepresented the revenue from his Concord Casino business to receive $188,000 more than he should have from the state’s “Main Street Relief Fund” in 2020.

The charges come 13 months after state investigators said Sanborn fraudulently obtained nearly $900,000 from the federal Small Business Administration in 2021 and 2022 and spent more than $260,000 of it on race cars. Casinos and charitable gaming facilities weren’t eligible for such loans, but Sanborn omitted his business name, “Concord Casino,” from his application and listed his primary business activity as “miscellaneous services,” officials said.

Federal authorities were notified but haven’t brought charges. The allegations were enough, however, for the state to shut down the casino in December and order Sanborn to sell it. He has since sued the attorney general’s office, and his lawyers accuse the state of trying to thwart potential sales.

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In a statement Wednesday, Sanborn’s lawyers called his arrest “an eleventh hour attempt to sabotage a sale.”

“We are disappointed but not surprised,” they said in a statement released by Attorney Mark Knights. “And we remain confident that the New Hampshire judiciary will continue to do justice and hold the AG accountable.”

Sanborn served four terms in the state Senate before unsuccessfully running for Congress in 2018.