Texas attorney general charged with fraud

Paxton won’t have to step down unless he’s convicted.

Texas Democratic Party Executive Director Manny Garcia released a statement tying Senator and Republican Presidential candidate Ted Cruz to Paxton, claiming the reason that Paxton won the Republican nomination for Attorney General despite the potential ethics charges was because of Cruz’ endorsement.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton speaks to media after keynoting a June 2015 event hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation regarding impact of the EPA’s Clean Power Plan. He is accused of defrauding at least two individuals of more than $100,000.

The indictment also contains a less serious charge of acting as a securities broker without registering with the state. These actions allegedly took place before he became a statewide official in January.

Securities fraud is a first-degree felony, punishable by five to 99 years in prison.

Paxton’s former colleagues in the Legislature, where he spent 12 years, have been mostly quiet. The failure to register charge relates to accusations that he referred clients to his friend and campaign donor Fritz Mowery without telling them that in return he received getting hefty commissions from the McKinney investment advisor.

Nor did top Texas Republicans rush to Paxton’s side with the same outrage as they did with Perry, whose case has not yet gone to trial.

Paxton wore a suit and smiled for his booking photo.

Like the prosecutions of Tom DeLay and Rick Perry, the case against Attorney General Ken Paxton depends on a novel interpretation of state law. “Ken Paxton, like all Americans, deserves to have his say in a court of law, rather than be judged in a court of public opinion that is presided over by liberal interest groups”.

Texas AG Ken Paxton indictment: Witch hunt or justified charges? After making this admission, he had also paid a fine of $1000 stating that this error was an oversight and he was not aware that such an act was unlawful.

According to prosecutors, a state lawmaker was among those duped.

Two of them are first-degree felonies accusing the 52-year-old Republican of engaging in fraud by facilitating the sale of more than $100,000 in stock in a tech startup based in his hometown of McKinney.

According to released indictments, in July of 2011, Paxton purposely did not disclose required information to two buyers of Servergy, Inc stock.

The office of state Rep. Byron Cook (R-Corsicana), who is named a complainant in the indictment, did not offer a response Monday afternoon. The felonious business over Servergy-which itself is facing questions of fraud from the federal Securities and Exchange Commission-was discovered when the Texas Rangers, the criminal investigation arm of the state’s law enforcement, took on the inquiry.

While top Republican leaders were cautious in their remarks about Paxton, the Texas GOP struck a defiant tone, calling the grand jury process “sloppy” and praising Paxton’s performance in office.

Yet Paxton is hardly the first to face criminal charges.