Houston (CN) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton struck a deal with the state of Texas Tuesday that put an end to the securities fraud case that has dogged Paxton for nearly a decade.
Prosecutors brought the indictment in 2015, shortly after Paxton became the state attorney general, charging him with two first-degree felony counts of securities fraud and one third-degree felony for failing to register with the Texas State Securities Board.
The two first-degree charges stem from Paxton's work in 2011, where he allegedly pushed investors to fund a Texas-based technology firm without disclosing he would earn a commission on the investments. Meanwhile, the third-degree charge came from his failure to pay the $1,000 fine for not registering as an investment adviser.
The deal lets Paxton move forward without having to face a jury trial or admit guilt. He must pay $271,000 in restitution, work 100 hours of community service in Collin County and take 15 hours of legal ethics courses in the next 18 months. If he doesn't comply, however, the case could still move ahead to trial.
Speaking after the hearing, lead defense attorney Dan Cogdell welcomed the deal.
“I have never turned down a pretrial intervention in 42 years,” Cogdell told the press.
The attorney and his team were “glad to have this matter behind us,” he said, adding that the case shouldn’t have been brought in the first place. Stating that “a grand jury would indict a cheeseburger," Cogdell called Paxton the “only person in history charged for failure to register after paying a $200 fine” — though lead prosecutor Brian Wice pointed out that the fine in question was actually five times that amount.
Wice also noted that Paxton voted in favor of making the very crime for which he was indicted a third-degree felony, rather than a mere administrative procedure. In all, he expressed satisfaction with the deal.
“Justice has not been denied,” Wice told reporters. Prosecutors promise "fair proceedings" and "reliable results," and Paxton's deal would ensure both, he said. Wice was still confident that he could have proved the case to a jury.
Wice took the post-hearing press conference as an opportunity to gripe about the media, stating flatly that his role in the case wasn't for notoriety. “I’m on TV more than Law & Order reruns,” he said of his appearances on Houston local news, and he said he's been “besieged by calls” since his cell phone number was leaked online.
The prosecutor balanced this frustration with admiration for one person in particular: Judge Andrea Beall, who presided over the case in its last few years.
"She is Steph Curry on the bench,” he said. The judge “went out on a limb” for this case while her predecessors had done not even the “bare minimum” to keep it moving.
Wice’s partner on the case, special prosecutor Jed Silverman, also took a positive tone. If Paxton does not comply with the terms of the pretrial intervention, Silverman said that he and Wice would still be ready for a trial.
Prosecutors said they conducted nearly a dozen witness interviews before reaching the agreement, and said the deal makes the victims whole.
But one last piece of the case also remains up in the air. The prosecutors’ pay dispute, which Judge Beall ruled on in October, is still before the appeals court. Mr. Wice hoped that the pretrial intervention will encourage that court to rule swiftly.
Prosecutors will supervise Paxton in the months to come and will begin having regular Zoom meetings in sixty days.
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