Special prosecutor: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton indicted for securities

However, the other charges seem to stem from a different investigation by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission into Servergy, a McKinney-based server company in which Paxton is a stake holder.

“He always seems upbeat”, Krause said.

And Texans for Public Justice, a liberal-leaning group that pressed for Paxton’s prosecution, met the news of the indictments by urging his resignation.

Even before voters overwhelmingly voted Paxton into office last November, he’d admitted to violating state securities laws, but he skated by with a simple $1,000 fine; of course, we later learned that the Rick Perry-appointed members of the State Securities Board failed to refer Paxton’s case for prosecution.

“This is another example of the corrupt Republican culture that festers with unchecked one party power”, Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Manny Garcia said. Schaffer has previously said he and Wice would pursue an indictment for first-degree felony securities fraud.

Schaffer and Wice, both attorneys from Houston, were selected to look into Paxton’s admission after Collin County District Attorney Greg Willis, a friend and business partner of the attorney general, stepped aside. That charge, a third-degree felony, could bring two to 10 years in prison if convicted.

That the state’s top lawyer, for the first time in more than three decades, now faces serious criminal charges has got to be some kind of low point in modern Texas politics (on the heels of a sitting governor’s criminal indictment, no less).

State officials do not have to step down from office if they are indicted, but convicted felons cannot serve.

“While we await further information, one thing is abundantly clear: Republican Ken Paxton couldn’t get away from the Texas Rangers“. He can continue working, just as then-Gov.

Another potential problem for Paxton is the cost of defending himself.

These charges will be present by the grand jury in McKinney, Texas, on Monday where Paxton is expected to turn himself into the Collin County jail.

The board found in May 2014 that Paxton was not properly registered as an investment adviser in his work with the firm.