A Texas businessman notably connected to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment case was arrested by the FBI Thursday afternoon.
Nate Paul, a 36-year-old Austin real estate developer, was taken into custody and booked into the Travis County Jail.
He has been charged with eight counts of making false statements to mortgage lending businesses and credit unions by misrepresenting assets he held in his company. The charges did not mention Paxton, but the timing of the arrest and Paul’s connection to Paxton has raised eyebrows.
Paul’s lawyers have not commented on the case, and federal prosecutors are not disclosing additional information about the arrest.
Paul’s connection to the Paxton impeachment trial stems from an FBI raid of his home in 2019. The raid was reportedly conducted in connection with Paul’s real estate company, World Class.
After the raid, eight employees of Paxton filed whistleblower complaints alleging that Paxton accepted a bribe to assist Paul in his ongoing legal battle with the FBI.
The alleged bribe included payments to Paxton to renovate his home and the employment of a woman with whom Paxton later admitted to having an extramarital affair. According to the whistleblowers, Paxton then ordered that an outside lawyer review Nate Paul’s claims of wrongdoing by federal agents.
Tony Buzbee, a Houston lawyer who formerly ran for mayor of Houston and represents Paxton, highlighted the indictment to point out that Paxton was not included or mentioned in the charges against Paul.
“The charges against Paul evidently have nothing to do with Attorney General Ken Paxton. Nothing whatsoever. That should speak volumes as to how weak this impeachment effort is,” Buzbee said, per CNN.
Another Paxton defense attorney, Dan Cogdell, speculated that the arrest was made in order to “flip” Paul against Paxton in the impeachment trial.
“You don’t have to be Nostradamus to assume that they’re going to try to flip Nate Paul to testify against Ken. I don’t know that for a fact. But I’d be very surprised if that wasn’t the case,” Cogdell told The Dallas Morning News.
The Dallas Express reached out to Paxton’s office and Buzbee’s law firm for additional comment on Paul’s indictment but received no response from either by the publication deadline.
Paxton’s trial in the Texas Senate is slated to begin by August 28, as previously reported by The Dallas Express.