Investigators in South Dakota found three dozen images of child pornography in 2019 in email s connected to billionaire philanthropist T. Denny Sanford, according to search warrant affidavits made public Thursday which detail the early stages of a probe that ultimately resulted in no charges being filed.
Sanford, 87, a part-time La Jolla resident who has donated nearly $1 billion to various institutions in San Diego, is one of the country’s wealthiest individuals with an estimated net worth of $2 billion. He has been shadowed by news of the investigation for the past several years.
The information was contained in search warrant affidavits sought by an agent with the South Dakota Division of Criminal Investigation in late 2019 and early 2020. The affidavits had been under seal for years until this month when the state Supreme Court ordered them unsealed — a process that took a few weeks.
Sanford was under investigation for alleged possession of child pornography in South Dakota, where he built his fortune as the founder of First Premier Bank, in 2019 and 2020.
No charges were ever filed, and the South Dakota Attorney General’s Office said in May 2022 that there were “no prosecutable offenses” under state law and closed the probe there.
Through his lawyer, Sanford issued a statement Thursday. It noted that, because of the decision not to pursue charges after the state investigation, the records are “only allegations.” The statement also said that the investigation apparently showed that Sanford may have been hacked, describing it as a “realization” of investigators.
“These preliminary allegations were provided to law enforcement prior to law enforcement’s exhaustive investigation and its realization that various individuals had documented access to the electronic devices at issue, including signs of hacking,” the statement released by lawyer Stacy Hegge said.
The documents show that in August 2019 the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children notified South Dakota authorities of an AOL that had images of child pornography and child erotica. There were 36 total images, with three unique images repeated several times depicting naked girls appearing to be between the ages of 8 and 15 years old.
The investigation soon connected the to Sanford, through a phone number linked to the that fed back to the bank and an employee there, according to the affidavit. The employee, after first saying no one at the bank had that number, eventually told the agent that the number was used by Sanford.
Investigators also found out that the where the images appeared was ed to Sanford, and it was created in 1997.
To further the connection to Sanford, the agent found other emails that included his driver’s license photo, as well as a June 11, 2019, letter from the Dalai Lama thanking Sanford for one of his many philanthropic acts — a $100 million contribution to the UC San Diego T. Denny Sanford Institute for Empathy and Comion.
Other affidavits for warrants filed in March 2020 sought records from Verizon and Midcontinent Communications, a cable and internet provider. It sought records from the cable company of activity connected to a specific computer address on June 27, 2019. Verizon was asked to provide records connected to a cellphone for the June date, as well as May 28 and May 29 of the same year.
The Verizon records showed that at least two email messages with child pornography had been sent from a cellphone that was being used at the time of the warrant by Sanford, according to the affidavit.
In January 2022 lawyers for Sanford said in a court filing that Sanford’s email s had been hacked, triggering the investigation. At the time, his lawyer was Marty Jackley, who in November was elected attorney general of the state.
The search warrant affidavits were released following a legal battle in South Dakota between media outlets seeking the records and Sanford’s lawyers.
Over the years Sanford has showered money across San Diego institutions. UCSD has received about $450 million from him. The school declined to comment Thursday on the new information in the investigation.
San Diego-based National University also has received lots of money from Sanford, including a $350 million donation in 2019 to expand National. At the time, National said it intended to add Sanford’s name to the title. National backed away from that commitment after the media reported that he was being investigated.
National University did not respond to requests for comment Thursday, nor did the San Diego Zoo and Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute — other notable institutions that have received substantial gifts.
