Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton just added federal civil charges to his list of indictments.
Monday, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil lawsuit in an East Texas federal court, stating the state’s top lawman broke federal security laws. He’s accused of knowingly and recklessly withholding information from investors. He allegedly pressured these investors and raised $840,000 for a technology company in exchange for 100,000 shares of stock. The new charges come on top of criminal allegations of securities fraud and complaints to the State Bar of Texas.
Lauren McGaughy, Austin bureau reporter for the Dallas Morning News, says the federal charges shed more light on what we’ve heard about his involvement with the tech company, Severgy.
McGaughy says it’s possible Paxton doesn’t want to settle with the Federal Election Commission in case it affects his criminal charges.
Democrats asked for Paxton’s resignation on Monday, but McGaughy says we have yet to hear any calls from his own party.
“It’s hard to know what’s the straw that’s going to break the camel’s back,” she says. “I think we’re going to see, in the next several months, if people come out of the woodwork – elected officials asking him to resign on the Republican side.”
Paxton has had to recuse himself from some day-to-day duties as the Attorney General. He’s not able to deal personally with anything that has to do with the Texas Ethics Commission or the state security board. His charges are tied up with those two agencies.
There have also been some high-profile departures from Paxton’s office, but it’s unclear if any resignations are linked to the charges.
Paxton’s lawyer stated that Paxton vehemently denies the allegations in the civil lawsuit and looks forward to all of the facts coming out. He also looks forward to establishing his innocence.
What’s next? Paxton has a hearing next month for the criminal charges in the Dallas appeals court. In the meantime, we’ll have to wait on more of Paxton’s response for the federal charges.
