Current:Home > BackTexas AG Ken Paxton is closer than ever to trial over securities fraud charges-LoTradeCoin
Texas AG Ken Paxton is closer than ever to trial over securities fraud charges
View Date:2025-01-11 03:11:57
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.
An attempt by Paxton’s lawyers to throw out the charges against him because the years of delay had violated his right to a speedy trial was denied by Beall last month.
Paxton is accused of defrauding investors in a Dallas-area tech company called Servergy by not disclosing that he was being paid by the company to recruit them. One of the people Paxton was accused of defrauding was former state Rep. Byron Cook.
Paxton is charged with two counts of securities fraud and one count of not being registered as an investment adviser. He has pleaded not guilty. The two securities fraud counts carry a potential sentence of up to 99 years in prison.
Paxton had also been charged in a federal civil complaint filed by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission over his work with Servergy. But a federal judge in March 2017 dismissed the complaint against him.
The securities fraud case has hung over Paxton nearly his entire time in statewide office. Yet Paxton, 61, has shown remarkable political resilience, maintaining and growing strong support among GOP activists on the state and national level, including from former President Donald Trump.
The criminal charges are among the myriad legal troubles that have long dogged Paxton over his three terms as one of the nation’s highest-profile state attorneys general. He was acquitted last year during a historic impeachment trial in the Texas Senate over accusations that he misused his office to help a wealthy donor.
However, a federal investigation has been probing some of the same charges presented in his impeachment.
He is also fighting efforts by former top aides to make him testify in a whistleblower civil lawsuit that also includes allegations central to the impeachment.
___
Associated Press writer Jim Vertuno in Austin, Texas contributed to this report.
___
Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://twitter.com/juanlozano70
veryGood! (48)
Related
- Jessica Simpson's Husband Eric Johnson Steps Out Ringless Amid Split Speculation
- Indictment against high-ranking Hezbollah figure says he helped plan deadly 1994 Argentina bombing
- For One Environmentalist, Warning Black Women About Dangerous Beauty Products Allows Them to Own Their Health
- Why Cameron Diaz Says We Should Normalize Separate Bedrooms for Couples
- College Football Playoff ranking release: Army, Georgia lead winners and losers
- Israel’s top diplomat wants to fast-track humanitarian aid to Gaza via maritime corridor from Cyprus
- Homicide victim found dead in 1979 near Las Vegas Strip ID’d as missing 19-year-old from Cincinnati
- Paige DeSorbo & Hannah Berner New Year Eve's Fashion Guide to Bring That Main Character Energy in 2024
- She's a trans actress and 'a warrior.' Now, this 'Emilia Pérez' star could make history.
- New tower at surfing venue in Tahiti blowing up again as problem issue for Paris Olympic organizers
Ranking
- Chipotle unveils cilantro-scented soap, 'water' cup candles in humorous holiday gift line
- Xfinity hack affects nearly 36 million customers. Here's what to know.
- Paige DeSorbo & Hannah Berner New Year Eve's Fashion Guide to Bring That Main Character Energy in 2024
- Dick Van Dyke: Forever young
- West Virginia governor-elect Morrisey to be sworn in mid-January
- EU court annuls approval of French pandemic aid to Air France and Air France-KLM
- How the markets and the economy surprised investors and economists in 2023, by the numbers
- Cindy Crawford Reacts to Her Little Cameo on The Crown
Recommendation
-
Voters in Oakland oust Mayor Sheng Thao just 2 years into her term
-
Israel’s top diplomat wants to fast-track humanitarian aid to Gaza via maritime corridor from Cyprus
-
Rumer Willis Reveals Her Daughter’s Name Is a Tribute to Dad Bruce Willis
-
Save 65% on Peter Thomas Roth Retinol That Reduces Wrinkles and Acne Overnight
-
Summer I Turned Pretty's Gavin Casalegno Marries Girlfriend Cheyanne Casalegno
-
Abuse in the machine: Study shows AI image-generators being trained on explicit photos of children
-
Philadelphia's 6ABC helicopter crashes in South Jersey
-
How the markets and the economy surprised investors and economists in 2023, by the numbers