NH attorney general expands investigation into suspended Seacoast real estate broker

Daniel Twombly

The NH Justice Department announced on Wednesday it is expanding its expanding investigation into suspended real estate broker Daniel Twombly of Hampton, who is accused of failing to make approximately $250,000 in agent commission payments for transactions in recent months and misappropriating his firm’s escrow account after his suspension.

New Hampshire Attorney General John Formella said his office’s Consumer Protection and Antitrust Bureau, the Real Estate Commission and the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification are all “actively investigating” the complaints against Twombly along with his real estate businesses, NE Coast to Country Realty Investments LLC in Hampton, RE/MAX On the Move, with offices in Hampton, Dover and Exeter, and RE/MAX Insight, whose were in Manchester and Salem in New Hampshire and Dracut, Methuen, and Tewksbury in Massachusetts.

The Portsmouth Herald reported that Twombly is also facing an investigation in Massachusetts.

On March 11, Twombly’s principal broker license was suspended by the NH Real Estate Commission “after receiving complaints that he had misappropriated funds held in an escrow account,” Formella said. The commission also sought the immediate establishment of a receivership and the appointment of a receiver over Coast to Country

A Merrimack County Superior Court judge on Tuesday appointed a receiver, Jason Mills, principal of BCM Advisory Group, to operate Coast to Coast “to preserve the assets and minimize the financial hardship to employees and consumers,” according to Formella.

New Hampshire investigators found Coast to Country failed to pay more than $250,000 in commissions between Oct. 1, 2022, and Feb. 28, 2023. In addition, Twombly “had exclusive access to the escrow account and authorized transactions after the time of his suspension, and prevented the Real Estate Commission from auditing the escrow accounts of Coast to Country,” all in violation of state laws, said Formella.

The Portsmouth Herald reported that Marshall Hook, a spokesperson for the Massachusetts Office of Consumer Affairs and Business Regulation, said the agency has “an open matter pending for Mr. Twombly,” adding we are “unable to comment further.” He said Twombly’s license is no longer active in Massachusetts.