Texas AG Ken Paxton reaches deal to end securities fraud charges after 9 years
Last edited Tue Mar 26, 2024, 10:21 AM - Edit history (1)
Source: AP
Updated 10:16 AM EDT, March 26, 2024
HOUSTON (AP) — Prosecutors on Tuesday announced an agreement with Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton that would ultimately dismiss securities fraud charges he has been facing for nearly a decade.
Under the 18-month pre-trial agreement, the special prosecutors in the case would drop three felony counts against Paxton. As part of the deal, Paxton must pay full restitution to victims — roughly $300,000 — and must also complete 100 hours of community service and 15 hours of legal ethics education.
The resolution lets Paxton avoid a trial, which had been set to begin in less than three weeks on April 15. Paxton was first indicted in 2015 after being accused of duping investors in a tech startup near Dallas before he was elected attorney general. If he had been convicted at trial, Paxton could have been sentenced to life in prison.
The agreement with prosecutors, which lets Paxton remain in his elected position and doesn’t affect his law license, is another huge legal and political victory for one of the nation’s most visible Republican state attorney generals. The end of the case comes six months after Paxton was acquitted of corruption charges in an impeachment trial in the Texas Senate. The resolution of the securities fraud case furthers a dramatic reversal of political fortune for Paxton, who just a year ago appeared imperiled by both the criminal case and the threat of being removed from office after his top aides reported him to the FBI.
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/ken-paxton-texas-securities-fraud-9ed5eecc30c1f967ec51f7e58ad9d0af
Article updated.
Original article/headline -
Updated 12:05 AM EDT, March 26, 2024
HOUSTON (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was expected back in court Tuesday and closer than ever to standing trial on felony securities fraud charges that have shadowed the Republican for nearly a decade.
But there was no certainty the April trial was still on track. Last week, a final pretrial hearing before a Houston judge was abruptly rescheduled, and both a special prosecutor and one of Paxton’s attorneys declined comment Monday on whether the case was going forward or if a deal to settle was possible.
If convicted, Paxton could be sentenced to prison and would be disqualified from holding state office. He has long denied wrongdoing while facing an array of other legal troubles, including an ongoing FBI investigation into accusations of corruption and a historic impeachment that ended in his acquittal last year.
Tuesday’s hearing was set to take place before state District Judge Andrea Beall. Brian Wice, a special prosecutor who has led the case from the start, and Dan Cogdell, one of Paxton’s attorneys, declined to comment. Paxton was first indicted in 2015. But the securities fraud case has been delayed for years during pre-trial disputes over trial location in the Dallas area or Houston, and payment for the state’s special prosecutors. The prosecutors have argued most of those delays were caused by Paxton.
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The guy has 9 lives. Survived impeachment too. 
