Nate Paul, businessman linked to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's impeachment, charged in federal case
A Texas businessman at the center 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 obtain $172 million in loans. A 23-page federal indictment was unsealed against real estate developer Nate Paul, 36, who was arrested Thursday by the FBI.
The indictment is the result of a yearslong FBI investigation — a probe Paxton involved his office in, setting off a chain of events that ultimately led to his impeachment and suspension from office last month. There was no mention of Paxton or the attorney general's office during a hearing Friday.
Paul was charged with eight counts of making false statements while seeking loans from mortgage lenders in the U.S. and Ireland. Prosecutors said each count of making false statements carries a penalty of up to 30 years in prison and a fine of up to $1 million.
Paul did not enter a plea during his initial appearance in an Austin court nor visibly react as the charges against him were read. He entered the federal courtroom shackled and wearing jeans, a blue shirt and Nikes, and was released ahead of trial but ordered to surrender his passport and inform the court of any travel outside Texas.
Paul is "adamant that he is not guilty," defense attorney Gerry Morris said after hearing, adding that he did not know when his client last spoke with Paxton. Dan Cogdell, a defense attorney for Paxton, said Thursday that he had no information on the arrest.
Paul is accused of overstating his assets and understating his liabilities while seeking loans, including by giving financial institutions false and counterfeit records. In one case, prosecutors said, Paul told banks he had $18 million in an account when he had less than $13,000. In another case laid out in the indictment, Paul is accused of having $28 million in liabilities but giving a credit union in 2018 a far lower number.
Paul was taken into custody by federal agents Thursday and booked into an Austin jail, according to Travis County Sheriff's Office records.
FBI agents examining Paul's troubled real estate empire searched his Austin offices and palatial home in 2019. The next year, eight of Paxton's top deputies reported the attorney general to the FBI on allegations of bribery and abusing his office to help Paul, including by hiring an outside lawyer to examine the developer's claims of wrongdoing by federal agents.
The allegations by Paxton's staff prompted an FBI investigation, which remains ongoing, and are central to articles of impeachment overwhelmingly approved by the GOP-led state House of Representatives.
On Wednesday, Paxton's defense team showed a packed room of journalists a bank statement that included a 2020 wire transfer purportedly showing him, and not a donor, paying more than $120,000 for a home renovation.
The wire transfer was dated Oct. 1, 2020 — the same day Paxton's deputies signed a letter informing the head of human resources at the Texas attorney general's office that they had reported Paxton to the FBI.
The $121,000 payment was to Cupertino Builders, whose manager was an associate of Paul, state corporation and court records show.
The company did not incorporate as a business in Texas until more than three weeks after the transaction took place. A company of the same name was formed in Delaware in April of that year, although public filings there do not make clear who is behind it.
Last year a court-appointed overseer for some of Paul's companies wrote in a report that Cupertino Builders was used for "fraudulent transfers" from his business to Narsimha Raju Sagiraju, who was convicted of fraud in California in 2016. The report described Sagiraju as Paul's "friend."
Paul, who also employed a woman with whom Paxton acknowledged having an extramarital affair, has denied bribing Paxton. In a deposition, Paul described Sagiraju as an "independent contractor" and said he didn't remember how they first met.
The timing of the payment — and the identity of who was paid for renovations at Paxton's home in Austin — was not publicly known before his new legal team held a news conference Wednesday in which they put financial documents on a projector screen while criticizing the impeachment. They were first reported by The Wall Street Journal.
Tony Buzbee, a prominent Houston attorney who was hired by Paxton over the weekend and led the news conference, said by email Thursday that receipts "clearly demonstrate" Paxton paid for the repairs. He did not address questions about the timing of the payments or Cupertino Builders.
"Without any evidence the politicians leading this sham impeachment falsely accused General Paxton of not paying for the repairs to his home. That is a lie," Buzbee said.
Since becoming just the third sitting official in Texas history to be impeached, Paxton has attacked the proceedings as politically motivated and rushed, saying he was never given the chance to rebut the accusations in the state House.
"We have the receipts," Buzbee told reporters Wednesday as the documents flashed onscreen. "This is the type of evidence we tried to offer them once we found out this foolishness was going on."
Paxton is temporarily suspended from office pending the outcome of a trial in the Texas Senate that is set to begin no later than Aug. 28. The jury will be the members of the 31-seat Senate; one of them, Paxton's wife, Sen. Angela Paxton, has not said whether she will recuse herself.
The Paxtons purchased the Austin house in 2018. When it was remodeled two years later, Paxton's former staff alleged in court documents, Paul "was involved in" the work.
Among the 20 articles of impeachment are accusations that Paxton used the power of his office to help Paul over unproven claims of an elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of the developer's properties.
The city has no record of building permits from the time of the renovations. A different Austin contractor — not Cupertino Builders — received a federal grand jury subpoena in 2021 for records related to work on Paxton's home that started in January 2020.
Cupertino Builders was formed in October 2020 and dissolved less than two years later, according to Texas corporation records. Its manager was Sagiraju, who said in a deposition for an unrelated case that he did "consulting" work for Paul's business and had an email address with Paul's company.
Sagiraju acknowledged that he served prison time for securities fraud and grand theft in California before moving to Austin, according to a transcript of the deposition. He said he was first introduced to Paul by a mutual friend before his prison term and they later did "a few projects" together.
A lawyer for Sagiraju did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Paxton was separately indicted on securities fraud charges in 2015, though he has yet to stand trial.