Fort Bend County Judge KP George appeared in court Monday as his attorneys filed a motion asking that a judge from another jurisdiction be appointed to preside over George’s felony money laundering case.
George’s attorneys Jared Woodfill and Terry Yates said it’s a reasonable request because George presides over the county budget, which includes district courts. No one testified Monday and 458th District Court Associate Judge Mark Hanna made no ruling, but attorneys said they expect an answer before the next scheduled hearing on June 26.
“It’s not to say that the [Fort Bend] judges aren’t impartial in any way but if there’s a look or appearance of impropriety to the public or there could even be any questions raised about it, then it’s appropriate for another judge, we believe a judge outside the county, to preside over it,” Woodfill said. “It just makes sense. That’s the next step.”
George, 61, was arrested April 4 on two counts of laundering between $30,000 and $150,000, a third-degree felony, which carries a potential sentence of two to 10 years in prison and fines of up to $10,000. He bonded out of county jail and presided over a Fort Bend County Commissioners Court meeting days later.
Reporters repeatedly tried to question George directly at Monday’s hearing but were stopped by his attorneys.
Woodfill maintains that George gave himself a campaign loan, a common practice when running for office, and paid it back but the paperwork was not filed properly. The indictment alleges that George laundered money between January and April 2019, with “intent to defraud or harm.”
The charges filed by District Attorney Brian Middleton are a political vendetta to unseat the once-popular county judge, Woodfill said.
Both Middleton and George are Democrats but there’s speculation that George may switch parties as he launches his 2026 campaign for re-election. The judge was elected as a Democrat in 2018 and 2022. Woodfill is a former Harris County GOP chair who made an unsuccessful bid for the Texas House last year.
“This is all about dirty politics,” Woodfill said of the charges against George.”I think the DA’s office is being weaponized to take out a political opponent. The judge has not voted in lockstep with the Democratic Party on budgets, redistricting, and things of that nature. There’s a schism in the Democratic Party in Fort Bend and Judge George is on one side and Middleton is on the other.”
Woodfill also claims that the charges should have been investigated by the Texas Ethics Commission, not the district attorney’s office. The lawyers said Monday they expect the case will be dismissed, but if it does go to trial, it won’t be until the end of the year.
George is also accused of a misdemeanor charge of identity misrepresentation, with prosecutors alleging he worked with a staff member to fake racist attacks against his own campaign on social media in an effort to gain favor with the public.
That case is scheduled for a hearing on June 13. George’s former staffer, Taral Patel, pleaded guilty April 15 to two counts of misdemeanor misrepresentation of identity by a candidate and was sentenced to probation.
While the DA’s office was investigating the social media hoax, attorneys combed through George’s records dating back several years and found a discrepancy in his campaign finance paperwork, leading to the felony charges, Woodfill said.
“Again, we know that’s politically motivated,” the attorney said. He also repeated an allegation that DA Middleton violated the Texas Election Code by failing to include “important information related to campaign contributions and contributors on his campaign finance reports.”
“It’s hypocrisy at its finest,” Woodfill said.
Middleton was not present at district court on Monday but previously told the Houston Press that last April, while working full-time and attending the police academy at night, he missed a filing deadline by about eight hours. He paid a $500 fine.
“Yes, I have made mistakes, as many candidates do, but not with any criminal intent,” he said.
“For many good reasons, Texas legal ethics rules limit the kinds of public statements a prosecutor and defense attorney can make about a pending criminal case,” Middleton said in an emailed statement last month. “To that end, the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office has been very careful to do its talking in the courtroom and not on the courthouse steps. Along these lines, in prosecuting a criminal case, it is not my practice to question the integrity of opposing counsel as a trial tactic. I believe a case should stand or fall on its merits.
“Counsel for KP George has seemingly taken a different approach, however, by accusing me of committing crimes in my own election finance reports,” he continued. “Although it appears that counsel’s intent in these attacks is to distract attention from the merits of Mr. George’s pending indictments, I feel compelled as an elected official and public figure to respond to his accusations.”
The DA filed a complaint with the Texas Ethics Commission and got a grand jury indictment against George related to the social media hoax before the judge had a chance to respond, Woodfill has said.
“Judge George has never even been found liable by the Texas Ethics Commission, the body responsible for investigating alleged violations of the Texas Election Code,” Woodfill said in a press release.
Woodfill claims the DA said he would dismiss the charges if George would resign, but George refused.
“[Judge George is] going to run for office and he denied the allegations,” Woodfill said. “When he refused to resign, they looked through six or seven years of campaign filings and found what they thought was a mistake, a loan to himself from the campaign that he paid back that they didn’t think was properly documented. They found two mistakes in six or seven years of filings. That was just in retaliation for him refusing to take the plea deal they had offered.”
A spokesman for the Fort Bend County District Attorney’s Office said Woodfill’s claim that a plea deal was offered is false.
“There was no plea deal; that didn’t happen,” he said.
Woodfill said he believes the DA rushed to judgment instead of allowing the process to play out through the proper channels.
“I think most people would say, if the county judge can be treated unfairly, what chance do I have?” he said.
