This past week a grand jury heard evidence in regards to Paxton and securities fraud.
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KPRC 2 News has learned that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been indicted by a grand jury in Collin County. Houston attorneys Shaffer and Brian Wice were appointed special prosecutors.
In the case of charges that stem from his private or personal business activities, his campaign funds are out of bounds, according to experts in state ethics laws.
Paxton’s lawyer, Joe Kendall, issued a statement Saturday night saying the judge overseeing the case “has specifically instructed both parties to refrain from public comment on this matter and we are honoring the judge’s instructions”. “He was fined a thousand dollars”, Largey says.
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. Schaffer had previously said he and Wice would pursue an indictment for first-degree felony securities fraud.
Paxton is also accused of failing to register as a solicitor while taking commissions for referring law clients to a financial investor. He is accused of encouraging the investors in 2011 to put more than $600,000 in Servergy while failing to tell them he was making a commission on their investment and misrepresenting himself as an investor in the company, said Kent A. Schaffer, one of the two special prosecutors handling the case.
“Texans deserve an AG who spends his time putting lawbreakers in jail rather than one desperately trying to avoid jail time himself”, said Matt Angle, director of the Lone Star Project and a prominent critic of Paxton. That charge, a third-degree felony, could bring two to 10 years in prison if convicted.
“While we await further information, one thing is abundantly clear: Republican Ken Paxton couldn’t get away from the Texas Rangers“. He was reprimanded and fined $1,000 by the State Securities Board.
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The board found in May 2014 that Paxton was not properly registered as an investment adviser in his work with the firm.
