On Wednesday, the hearing in the securities fraud case against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton which was to take place this Friday was moved to late October.
Paxton’s defense lawyers and prosecutors will return to court on Monday, October 30. This comes after they initially agreed to head back to court this week to handle pending motions and set a potential trial.
Paxton appeared in a Houston courtroom in early August to answer for securities fraud charges after years of delays due to issues with payments for the prosecutors and relocation debates on whether or not the case would remain in Collin County. Throughout the August hearing, Paxton did not speak.
During that short pretrial setting, both sides addressed which motions were up for consideration in the case, which included Paxton’s attorneys’ motion for a speedy trial and the prosecutors’ motion for determination of their fees.
The attorneys also suggested that the subsequent motion hearing should happen after Paxton’s impeachment trial – which was set to start in September – as the outcome would likely play a part in the case. State District Judge Andrea Beall agreed with the attorneys and scheduled the motion hearing for October 6.
Paxton had been accused of abusing his office to benefit Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, a close friend and political donor. The Senate cleared him of wrongdoing in 16 of the 20 Articles of Impeachment against him. Three of the other four were not handled because they related to the security fraud charges. The fourth related to Paxton’s ethics filings in the impeachment trial.
After Paxton’s acquittal, the Senate voted to dismiss the remaining four articles of impeachment.
The attorney general still faces other legal challenges that prosecutors said could affect the securities fraud case. This includes an ongoing federal investigation into Paxton’s alleged corrupt activity to help Paul, which prosecutors said is the most significant pending legal action against the attorney general.
Paxton was initially indicted by a Collin County grand jury in 2015 for allegedly defrauding investors in a McKinney company and failing to register with state securities regulators. If convicted, Paxton could face up to 99 years in prison and lose his law license.
This article appears in Jan 1 – Dec 31, 2023.
