Nate Paul, the Austin real estate developer at the center of embattled Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment scandal, was arrested Thursday on a federal warrant.
Paul was booked into the Travis County Jail Thursday at 4:25 p.m., Kristen Dark, spokesperson for the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, told The Daily Beast. Dark said he’s currently “on federal hold” in the jail—but would not disclose any further details.
It’s unclear whether Paul’s arrest is related to the allegations of misconduct dogging Paxton. The hard-right Texas official was hit with 20 articles of impeachment late last month by the Texas legislature, after a slew of misconduct allegations came to light—including covering up a possible sex scandal, retaliating against his aides and even leaking confidential FBI documents to a donor.
ADVERTISEMENT
But the laundry list of accusations involving Paul are what raised eyebrows Thursday following his arrest. Paxton is accused of protecting Paul from foreclosure, targeting a charity that was suing Paul for fraud, and even at one point convincing Paul to hire his mistress.
Attorneys for Paul did not respond to requests for comment from the Associated Press—while one of Paxton’s lawyers declined comment.
And those allegations might only be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the allegations that may surface during Paxton’s impeachment proceedings, according to one of the lawyers handling the case.
Rusty Hardin, one of the two Texas attorneys presenting the Texas legislature’s case for impeachment against Paxton, teased last month that there was more to come.
“I promise you, it’s 10 times worse than has been public,” Hardin said.
The other attorney on the case, Dick DeGuerin, told The Daily Beast Wednesday that “the depth of corruption” from Paxton “is astounding.”
“It’s just conduct that convinces anyone that looks at it fairly that the office of attorney general has been abused and used for personal gain,” DeGuerin said, adding that the evidence against all 20 articles of impeachment is “very strong.”
It’s still unknown exactly why Paul was arrested. Authorities first raided Paul’s homes and businesses in 2019, before his ties with Paxton came under scrutiny. The next year, seven of Paxton’s employees went to the FBI with allegations of bribery and claimed that Paxton had abused his office to help Paul.
Paul has repeatedly denied the allegations. Paxton has called the charges politically motivated, and said that he has not been given a chance to rebut the claims
