At the heart of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s recent troubles is that he used his office to help a political donor — Austin real estate investor Nate Paul — in exchange for allegedly helping the attorney general remodel his home and giving Paxton’s mistress a job in his company.
According to thedailybeast.com, “Paxton reportedly acknowledged the affair with the woman, who worked as an aide to a Texas state senator, to his staff in 2018 and said he had ended it.”
Paul has denied that his hiring of the woman was as a favor to Paxton.
Resignations of seven senior members of Paxton’s staff followed, accusing their boss of accepting bribes and abusing his office. Others were fired. Four of his former employees filed suit, arguing that Paxton and his agency improperly retaliated against them. A $3.3 million settlement was reached earlier this year.
“Each of these four men is a conservative Republican civil servant,” investigator Erin Epley told the House committee. “Interviews show that they wanted to be loyal … and they tried to advise him well and strongly. When that failed, each was fired after reporting General Paxton to law enforcement.”
Where articles of impeachment against Ken Paxton mentions his mistress
ARTICLE IX
(Constitutional Bribery-Paul’s Employment of Mistress)
While holding office as attorney general, Warren Kenneth Paxton engaged in bribery in violation of Section 41, Article XVI, Texas Constitution.
Specifically, Paxton benefited from Nate Paul’s employment of a woman with whom Paxton was having an extramarital affair. Paul received favorable legal assistance from, or specialized access to, the office of the attorney general.
Who is Ken Paxton’s wealthy donor, Nate Paul?
Nate Paul is a real estate investor based in Austin. He is the son of Indian immigrants.
He founded his company, World Class, in 2007 telling Forbes: “I was buying at the pit of the crisis. In many of those deals, there was no other bidder.”
He bought storage facilities, land in Austin, a marina on Lake Travis and a building being used by a call center in south Austin — exploiting the low prices and low-interest-rate opportunities after the 2008 financial meltdown.
Less than a decade later, institutional investors such as pension funds and insurance companies helped grow his business into the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to the Austin Business Journal. His success got him on Forbes “30 under 30” list. By 2017, Forbes estimated his net worth to be about $800 million.
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