HOUSTON (AP) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Tuesday announced a deal to end criminal securities fraud charges that have shadowed the Republican Party since he took office nearly a decade ago. agreed to pay compensation of $1.
The special prosecutor announced this in a Houston courtroom. less than 3 weeks before Paxton is scheduled to stand trial on a felony charge that carries a possible prison sentence if convicted. It was the closest Paxton — Who was indicted in 2015 He previously went to trial on charges that he defrauded investors in a high-tech startup near Dallas.
Under an 18-month pretrial agreement, the special prosecutor in the case will drop three felony charges against Paxton. As part of the agreement, Paxton must pay full restitution to his victims and also complete 100 hours of community service and 15 hours of legal ethics training.
Mr. Paxton was in the courtroom but had no comment other than to confirm to state District Judge Andrea Beal that the agreement had been signed.
Had he been convicted at trial, Paxton could have been sentenced to life in prison.
The agreement with prosecutors that allows Paxton to remain in his elected position and does not affect his law license is a major legal and political victory for one of the nation's most high-profile Republican state attorneys general. The case's conclusion comes six months after Paxton's incident. acquitted of corruption charges In the Texas Senate impeachment trial.
With the resolution of the securities fraud case, Mr. Paxton's political fortunes will undergo a dramatic reversal. Just a year ago, Mr. Paxton appeared to be in jeopardy due to both a criminal case and threats to remove him following a tip to the FBI by his aides.
But Mr. Paxton became bolder.he war that took place While dozens of Republicans joined the 2023 impeachment effort, the biggest target was state House Speaker Dade Phelan, who was forced into a May 28 runoff election. Mr. Paxton's retaliatory efforts included helping to defeat three Republican judges on the state Court of Criminal Appeals, as they were part of a majority that stripped local district attorneys of their authority to prosecute election fraud without their permission. .he Does not exclude the possibility of major challenges Republican Sen. John Cornyn in 2026.
However, Paxton still faces legal issues.a federal investigation It is investigating some of the same charges presented in the impeachment.
He also combat effort Former aides tried to get him to testify in a civil whistleblower lawsuit that included the allegations at the heart of the impeachment case.
Securities fraud cases have plagued Paxton for much of his tenure in statewide office. But Mr. Paxton, 61, has shown remarkable political resilience, maintaining strong and growing support among Republican activists at the state and national level, including former President Donald Trump.
Paxton was accused of defrauding investors at Servergy, a Dallas-area technology company, by failing to disclose that he was being paid to recruit investors. One of the people Paxton was charged with defrauding was former state Rep. Byron Cook.
Paxton was charged with two counts of securities fraud and one count of not registering as an investment advisor.
Paxton was also charged in a federal civil suit brought by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission regarding his work with Servergy.However, in March 2017, a federal judge dismissed the complaint Against Paxton. The man who recruited Paxton to work with Servergy, its former CEO William Mapp, was found liable by a jury for misleading investors and ordered to pay a $22,500 civil penalty. Ta. According to court documents, Mapp lost his job at Servergy and then had to work as an Uber driver to make ends meet.
Pre-trial disputes over trial location in the Dallas area or Houston payment The state's special prosecutor delayed the securities fraud case against Paxton for years. Prosecutors argued that most of those delays were caused by Paxton.
Paxton's lawyers unsuccessfully sought last month to have the charges against him dismissed, saying years of delays violated his right to a speedy trial.
The fraud charges were among the original 20 cases. articles of impeachment. But the process was political. Criminal cases posed an even more serious threat.
Paxton's political opponents, especially Republicans, used the fraud charges against him in the election. But Paxton has been re-elected twice as attorney general since his indictment, most recently in 2022.
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Associated Press writer Jim Bertuno in Austin, Texas, contributed to this report.
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