AUSTIN, Texas — A Texas businessman on the heart of the scandal that led to the historic impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton was charged Friday with making false statements to mortgage lenders to acquire $172 million in loans.
The federal indictment of actual property developer Nate Paul is the results of a yearslong FBI investigation – a probe Paxton concerned his workplace in, setting off a series of occasions that led to a separate federal probe of the lawyer basic and his impeachment and suspension from workplace final month.
Paul was charged with eight counts of constructing false statements whereas looking for loans from mortgage lenders within the U.S. and Ireland. There was no point out of Paxton or the lawyer basic’s workplace throughout the listening to.
Paul, 36, who entered the federal courtroom shackled and carrying denims, a blue shirt and Nikes, didn’t enter a plea throughout his preliminary look in an Austin court docket nor visibly react as the fees had been learn. He was launched forward of trial however ordered to give up his passport and inform the court docket of any journey exterior Texas.
Following the listening to, Paul left by a again door and climbed right into a automobile in a gated space exterior the courthouse.
Paul is “adamant that he is not guilty,” protection lawyer Gerry Morris mentioned after listening to, including that he didn’t know when his shopper final spoke with Paxton. An lawyer for Paxton, Dan Cogdell, speculated Thursday night that prosecutors would possibly use the fees towards Paul to attempt to get him to “flip” and cooperate within the investigation of the lawyer basic.
Paul is accused of overstating his belongings and understating his liabilities whereas looking for loans in 2017 and 2018, together with by giving monetary establishment false and counterfeit data. In one case, prosecutors mentioned, Paul instructed banks he had $18 million in an account when he had lower than $13,000. In one other case specified by the 23-page indictment, Paul is accused of telling a credit score union he had round $3 million in liabilities when he really owed greater than $28 million on the time.
A grand jury handed up the indictment Tuesday however a choose sealed the doc till after the court docket listening to, which befell only a few blocks from Paul’s downtown Austin workplaces.
Prosecutors mentioned every depend of constructing false statements carries a penalty of as much as 30 years in jail and a tremendous as much as $1 million.
FBI brokers analyzing Paul’s troubled actual property empire searched his Austin workplaces and palatial residence in 2019. The subsequent yr, eight of Paxton ’s prime deputies reported the lawyer basic to the FBI on allegations of bribery and abuse of workplace, together with for hiring an out of doors lawyer to look at the developer’s claims of wrongdoing by federal brokers.
The allegations by Paxton’s workers prompted an FBI investigation that in February was taken over by the Justice Department’s Washington-based Public Integrity Section. They are additionally central to twenty articles of impeachment overwhelmingly accredited by the GOP-led state House of Representatives. They embrace abuse of public belief, unfitness for workplace and bribery.
The impeachment accuses Paxton of utilizing his workplace to assist Paul over his unproven claims of an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of the developer’s properties. The bribery counts say that in return the developer employed a girl with whom Paxton had an extramarital affair and paid for costly renovations to the lawyer basic’s million-dollar Austin residence.
Paxton’s legal professionals sought to rebut the latter declare this week by releasing a financial institution assertion that included a 2020 wire switch purportedly exhibiting Paxton, and never a donor, paying greater than $120,000 for a house renovation. But the doc raised new questions in regards to the males’s dealings.
The wire switch was dated Oct. 1, 2020 – the identical day Paxton’s deputies signed a letter informing the pinnacle of human assets on the Texas lawyer basic’s workplace that they’d reported their boss to the FBI. The $121,000 fee was to Cupertino Builders, whose supervisor had accomplished work for Paul and had an e mail tackle along with his firm, state company and court docket data present.
Paul has confronted quite a few lawsuits from collectors and enterprise companions over time, with a number of of his firms submitting for chapter or being positioned beneath the supervision of court-appointed overseers. Last yr, a kind of receivers wrote in a report that Cupertino Builders was used for “fraudulent transfers” from Paul’s enterprise.
Paul has denied bribing Paxton. The lawyer basic has additionally broadly denied wrongdoing and mentioned he expects to be acquitted throughout an impeachment trial within the state Senate, the place his spouse is a member.
The Senate will set its personal guidelines for a trial that has little precedent, provided that Paxton is simply the third sitting official in Texas historical past to be impeached. The continuing is ready start no later than Aug. 28.
Paxton was individually indicted on securities fraud fees in 2015, although he has but to face trial.
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Bleiberg reported from Dallas.
Content Source: www.washingtontimes.com