Nate Paul, a real estate investor accused of corruption by Paxton, is found in contempt of court and sentenced to prison.

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Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor who was involved in allegations of unlawful conduct by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, was found guilty of contempt of court, fined more than $180,000 and sentenced to jail by Travis County State Judge.

In October 2020, senior Paxton agency deputies told federal authorities that they believed the attorney general had abused his powers on behalf of Paul, a friend and campaign sponsor. These eight high-ranking deputies were fired or resigned, but their accusations sparked an FBI investigation into Paxton, which is currently being conducted by the US Department of Justice.

Paxton and Paul denied the allegations, which were detailed in a whistleblower lawsuit by four former Paxton deputies who claimed they were wrongfully fired in retaliation for reporting their suspicions to investigators.

The court-ordered sanctions against Paul came as part of a lawsuit between the developer and the Roy F. and Joanne Cole Mitte Foundation, an Austin-based nonprofit that sued Paul for fraud.

Ray Chester, an attorney for the Mitte Foundation, said his clients were pleased with the decision by State District Judge Jan Soifer, according to a letter sent Friday to attorneys for Paul and Mitte.

“We believe that this decision is justified,” Chester said, calling it “one of the steps to restore justice.”

Brent Perry, Paul’s attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment. It was unclear whether he would appeal the decision.

According to the whistleblower’s lawsuit, Paxton overturned the decision of his agency’s endowment department and ordered the attorney general’s office to intervene in the Mitte Foundation’s lawsuit against Paul. “It was strange, given that (Paxton) had never done this before and even showed no interest in the charity case,” the lawsuit says.

The whistleblowers also alleged that Paxton helped Paul gain access to investigative documents related to the 2019 searches of Paul’s home and business by federal and state investigators. Paul argued that the searches were improper, but after the agency’s lawyers determined the suit was unfounded, Paxton went beyond normal procedures to ensure that an outside lawyer was hired to investigate, as informants claimed.

In addition, Paxton ordered a written opinion, which was released at 2 a.m. Sunday, stating that the foreclosure sale should be suspended due to pandemic safety regulations, which benefited Paul by delaying the foreclosure sale. for one of his possessions two days later. informants.

In return, according to whistleblowers, Paul donated $25,000 to Paxton’s campaign, paid for repairs to his home, and hired Paxton’s mistress. Paxton is married to State Senator Angela Paxton, R-McKinney.

According to a letter Friday sent by Soifer’s staff attorney, the judge found Paul guilty of contempt of civil and criminal law and concluded that he had made false statements. He was sentenced to 10 days of arrest from 15 March.

“Mr. Paul’s egregious lies before the trial under oath were pervasive and unforgivable and served to deliberately frustrate the court’s function of enforcing his injunction,” Soifer’s staff attorney, Elliott Beck, wrote in the letter.

Beck added that Paul’s actions were “part of the non-compliance with court orders.” Paul was fined $181,760 for violating a court order.

Last June, in an attempt to force Paul to pay the Mitte Foundation a $2 million judgment that the non-profit won against him, Soifer issued an injunction ordering Paul to submit monthly expense reports to the court and forbidding him from spending more than $25,000 at a time. . .

According to Chester, Paul did not file reports for five months, and the Mitte Foundation asked Soifer to file a contempt of him. At a November hearing, lawyers for the nonprofit alleged that Paul paid about $960,000 to Westlake Industries, which Paul owns, and $100,000 to Avery Bradley, a former University of Texas and NBA basketball player who filed a breach of contract lawsuit against Paul’s firm. , world-class holdings.

Lawyers for the nonprofit showed Paul his bank records showing a $100,000 transfer to Bradley, which Paul said he did not recognize. Soifer then adjourned the hearing for a week to give Paul time to gather bank records and identify all of his bank accounts, which the court found he did not.

Lawyers for the nonprofit were able to obtain Westlake Industries bank statements that showed a $967,000 payment on the day the injunction went into effect.

“The timing was really fishy and he owns 100% of Westlake Industries,” Chester said.

In his letter, Beck said that Paul “told false evidence, gave false evidence, sat in the witness stand just a few feet from the court, answering numerous questions from counsel and the court.”

“He lied about both transfers mentioned above and he lied about his personal bank accounts even when confronted with evidence of such accounts,” Beck wrote. “He failed and refused to submit documents on such accounts even after the hearing was adjourned for a week to give him time to collect such documents.”

Chester said he is currently drafting a breach order at Soifer’s direction.

The Mitte Foundation first invested part of its donations in Paul’s company in 2011. The non-profit organization later sued Paul for breach of contract due to non-disclosure of financial information.

Through one of Paul’s companies, the Mitte Foundation holds an interest in two buildings in downtown Austin that are under contract to sell for a total of $172 million, of which the Mitte Foundation will receive a “substantial portion,” according to Chester. Closing of the deal was delayed by Paul’s appeal, which was recently thrown out by the 3rd Court of Appeals in Austin, although Paul’s lawyers have several months to get the case heard in the Texas Supreme Court.

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