The former Keene mayor was Chris Sununu’s pick for Congress in 2022. Now he’s accused of fraud over a $1.6 million apartment sale.
George Hansel, a former Keene mayor whom then-Gov. Chris Sununu endorsed for Congress in 2022, is accused in a lawsuit of helping mislead a company into buying a Keene apartment complex for $1.6 million.
Now the developer who hired him to sell it is blaming Hansel as well.
Developer Jared Goodell sold the property with Hansel acting as his real estate agent. In an Aug. 21 filing in Cheshire County Superior Court, Goodell asked that Hansel and H.G. Johnson, the Keene brokerage where Hansel works, cover some or all of any damages if Goodell is found responsible. Goodell, who is representing himself, denies the buyer’s claims.
Hansel served two terms as Keene’s mayor and finished second in the 2022 Republican primary for New Hampshire’s 2nd Congressional District, about 2,000 votes behind Bob Burns. He weighed another run in 2024 before deciding against it.
Sununu also appointed Hansel to the University System of New Hampshire’s Board of Trustees, where his term runs through June 2027.
The buyer was told, “All units are occupied with long term tenants,” according to court filings.
The lawsuit alleges most of those tenants were actually residents of a flooded senior living facility who were staying there while it was repaired, and that they moved back by early 2026.
It also says the financial records the buyer got omitted more than $20,000 in regular costs, like trash pickup and snow removal, and that the new buildings’ foundations lacked steel reinforcement required by construction plans.
The lawsuit says Hansel had “special knowledge” of the property because he also worked as a consultant on its city permits. It accuses him of knowing about, or recklessly ignoring, the problems with the foundations. The two men have worked on at least three Keene developments together.
In an Aug. 19 response, Hansel and H.G. Johnson said they relied on information and financial figures Goodell gave them and denied allegations of civil conspiracy.
The claims have yet to be proven in court. Hansel told the Keene Sentinel in June he wasn’t aware of the complaint and declined to comment.
Hansel spent four years on the Keene City Council before serving as mayor from 2020 to 2024. A Republican twice elected to lead a heavily Democratic city, he didn’t seek a third term.
His name has repeatedly come up for higher office.
When he announced in 2023 that he was leaving the mayor’s office, Hansel said he wasn’t ruling out another run. After then-Rep. Annie Kuster announced her retirement in 2024, the Union Leader listed him among Republicans who might run for her seat. Hansel said he’d gotten numerous inquiries about running before deciding against it.
In December 2024, when he left his family’s manufacturing business for real estate, he told the Sentinel he had no plans to run for office again soon. He has since appeared on WFEA radio several times as a political commentator.
