The overall situation dates back to at least the COVID-19 pandemic, when a surge in demand for takeout made 2020 a banner year for the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound, according to the lawsuit. Marconi tried in 2021 to stop the seasonal cabin from selling ready-made food. He cited concerns about traffic congestion, but the lawsuit claims that was a pretext.
The lawsuit alleges Marconi — whose family owns and operates it Geno’s Chowder & Sandwich Shop in Portsmouth, about 6 miles from Rye Harbor — used his position to inhibit competition and punish those not in his circle.
“The series of actions taken against the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound were driven by Marconi’s desire to harm a competitor of his family business and in retaliation against the plaintiffs who were not part of Marconi’s network of allied companies and individuals who worked for or were otherwise connected to the port authority,” the complaint states.
Marconi is not the only defendant in this lawsuit. Cheever and Hanscom also sued the New Hampshire Port Authority; the Pease Development Authority, a state agency that oversees the Port Authority; and Paul Brean, chief executive of the Pease Development Authority. The lawsuit alleges that all defendants participated in an anticompetitive civil conspiracy to undermine the Lobster Shack’s business through procedural barriers, extortion and threats.
Public protests in 2021 prompted then-Governor Christopher T. Sununu to grant one year exemption to let the business continue to function as it has been. But that allegedly didn’t stop the defendants from throwing up a series of roadblocks in the years that followed.
Marconi and the other defendants allegedly caused local lobstermen to stop delivering their catch to the shack, took away the free parking that customers had relied on to pick up their orders, and imposed onerous requirements and costs beyond what similar businesses were required to shoulder, including a “concession fee” of 10 percent on gross sales, according to the lawsuit.
The defendants did not respond Tuesday to the content of the lawsuit’s allegations. A spokesperson said the New Hampshire Department of Justice’s Office of Civil Rights will review the complaint. Additionally, the spokesman said the Public Integrity Unit “takes seriously all allegations of officer misconduct.”
Even if their operations were allowed to operate through the 2024 season, Cheever and Hanscom said they worry that permits could be revoked at any time based on a suspected violation of rules that haven’t actually been issued.
Marconi told the Rye Harbor Lobster Pound that it would not be allowed to open for the 2024 season unless changes were made to bring it into compliance with a rule regarding placement of outdoor storage containers, including propane tanks, according to the lawsuit. When the company presented a plan to comply, Marconi cited an additional “unpublished” rule that would require all propane tanks to be removed at the end of the season, further frustrating the company’s efforts, the lawsuit states.
The lawsuit’s allegations come just as the discovery process heats up in three separate but related criminal cases.
Marconi, 73, is charged with improperly disclosing motor vehicle records to retaliate against a witness. His wife, New Hampshire Supreme Court Justice Anna Barbara Hantz Marconi, 68, is charged with trying to influence in an improper way the course of the criminal investigation against her husband. And his ally Bradley J. Cook, 73, is charged with perjury before a grand jury.
During a hearing Tuesday in Rockingham County Superior Court, Prosecutor Dan A. Jimenez said the state had turned over 20,000 pages of discovery to Marconi’s legal team in late December. A defense attorney, Joseph E. Welsh, said there were close to 30,000 pages, with more on the way.
Meanwhile, a defense attorney representing Hantz Marconi disclosed hundreds of pages of discovery in her case by attaching them to recent court filings. The documents include investigative interview transcripts with Sununu, his attorney, and Stephen M. Duprey, who chairs the Pease Development Authority’s board of directors.
Duprey told a DOJ investigator that this whole situation with the Port Authority appears to stem from a decision to allow the “lobster lady” to operate retail during the pandemic. Now that Marconi and his allies don’t want retailers in Rye Harbor, “they tried to make life as difficult as possible,” Duprey said, according to the printout.
Duprey told the investigator that he and Neil Levesque, vice chairman of the Pease Development Authority, support the idea that New Hampshire’s ports “belong to everyone” in the state, not just “a little club” of people.
“And I think that’s why not only has there been a lot of resistance, but a lot of things have been done to make life difficult for the lobster lady,” he said.
Levesque is the witness or informant Marconi is accused of having revenge. Marconi allegedly exposed Levesque’s confidential motor vehicle information to Cook, according to court records. Cook is accused of lying to a grand jury by claiming that he had not received the material from Marconi.
Duprey and Levesque did not respond to interview requests.
On April 19, the day after her husband was placed on paid administrative leave, Hantz contacted Marconi Duprey, reportedly to solicit special treatment from him — but Duprey told investigators he didn’t believe she was trying to exert undue influence.
“I think she was very appropriate when she wasn’t trying to cross the line,” Duprey said, according to the transcript.
Sununu and his lawyer similarly expressed doubt about the notion that Hantz Marconi could have broken the law. Sununu said it was “uncomfortable” and “strange,” perhaps even “inappropriate,” that she came to his office to express her views on the investigation, but she made no specific request while there.
“I didn’t understand that there was anything illegal about the call,” Sununu told an investigator.
Richard Guerriero, a defense attorney for Hantz Marconi, cited the interview transcripts in a recently filed court to argue that prosecutors have no sound basis for their case.
“Allowing the state to proceed with this case is unjust,” Guerriero wrote. “The prosecution poses a threat to the First Amendment and to the important doctrine of judicial immunity.”
Prosecutors fired back Tuesday with a filing of their own, attaching additional discovery material they said undermines Guerriero’s argument.
DOJ spokesman Michael S. Garrity noted that a grand jury had reviewed the evidence and determined there was probable cause to indict Hantz Marconi.
“This case will proceed as required by New Hampshire law, and the defendant will be entitled to the same trial as any other defendant — nothing more, nothing less,” Garrity said. “We will try this case in court based on all the evidence collected and not in the media with only part of the evidence.”
Steven Porter can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @Reporter.
