New Hampshire
Fraud investigators ask court to make Alexander produce business records • New Hampshire Bulletin
Robynne Alexander, who has until this Monday afternoon to close a $21.5 million Laconia land deal with the state, is facing a new court challenge.
Friday, the state Bureau of Securities Regulation asked the state superior court to force Alexander to comply with its January subpoena seeking records related to its investigation of her business dealings. That includes documents, communications, and investor information connected to the Laconia purchase she’s been negotiating with the state Department of Administrative Services since 2022, according to the court filing.
“Alexander must comply with the subpoena so that the bureau can effectuate its purpose of protecting the investing public by obtaining information it considers relevant and material to its investigation,” bureau attorney Michael Kirwin wrote in the court filing.
The bureau had given Alexander a 60-day extension, until mid-April, to provide all documents with an agreement she’d begin submitting them on a rolling basis, as she gathered them.
In their request to the court Friday, the bureau’s attorneys told the court that the deadline had passed with Alexander producing no records.
Neither Alexander, who’s been given several extensions to finalize the Laconia deal, nor the project spokesperson, Scott Tranchemontagne, could be immediately reached for comment. This is the latest of Alexander’s numerous legal troubles.
The Bulletin’s 18-month investigation has revealed that Alexander has been sued by multiple investors since 2022, is facing her third foreclosure, and has a history of property tax liens.
Commissioner Charlie Arlinghaus of the Department of Administrative Services, whose office is overseeing the sale of the former 220-acre Laconia State School campus, has said Alexander’s private real estate projects – and the Bureau of Securities Regulation investigation – do not concern his office. His only concern, he has said, is that Alexander pay $21.5 million in cash by the end of the day Monday.
The Bureau of Securities Regulation, which is charged with protecting investors against fraud, has declined to comment on its investigation since the Bulletin first reported the news two weeks ago.
Its request to the court provides a bit more information about the inquiry, which began in late 2023, and how expansive it is.
The bureau is seeking business records dating back to 2018, the year Alexander relocated from California to New Hampshire and signed on investors for a 60,000-square-foot residential and commercial development on Elm Street in Manchester.
Alexander must also produce records related to the numerous entities she’s controlled in New Hampshire, which would likely include the several real estate development businesses in her name, as well as her investors, at least four of whom sued her in superior court.
The bureau has asked the court to make Alexander produce the records within 10 days of its order and to appear for questioning 10 days after that.