(IntegrityTimes.com) – Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been battling legal troubles for years, ever since he was indicted in July of 2015 on three felony securities fraud charges. Although scheduled to go to court on April 15 prosecutors announced in a pretrial hearing on Tuesday March 26 that Paxton has agreed to an 18-month intervention to include $270,000 in restitution, 100 hours of community service, and 15 hours of legal education classes with special focus on ethics.
The agreement will allow Paxton to remain in his elected position and will not affect his law license. However, he is still under investigation by the Justice Department’s Public Integrity Section over accusations of corruption by several members of his senior staff in 2020. The issue came into focus during his September 2023 impeachment trial although he was eventually acquitted on 16 articles of impeachment alleging corruption and bribery.
Paxton also has an active whistleblower lawsuit against him that was filed by former aides who claim that he fired them as retaliation after they reported him to the FBI. He has said that he will not contest in this case, which some have characterized as a cynical attempt to simply end the case without being held accountable. Whistleblower Blake Brickman believes Paxton is just afraid of being removed from office and has accused him of trying to have his “cake and eat it, too”.
Paxton will be allowed up to 18 months to pay the $270,000. He will also be required to check in with prosecutors every 60 days. The community service agreed upon will require him to volunteer at a soup kitchen or food pantry in Collin County, Texas. While Paxton has been cooperative during the process, he has not admitted any guilt. In a statement on Tuesday March 26, he commented that he was grateful to have reached an agreement and indicated he was looking forward to putting the matter behind him and getting back to work.
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