The FBI arrested Nate Paul, a popular real estate developer and businessman in Texas. Paul was arrested and booked into jail in Austin on Thursday in what speculators think might be related to the impeachment of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Paul, 36, had business dealings with Paxton and investigators said the latter’s impeachment in May was not unrelated to his affiliation with Paul.
According to the Travis County Sheriff’s Office, Paul was being detained on a federal detainer for a felony. Earlier this week, Paul’s lawyers had forwarded evidence to show that he was not involved in any bribery scandal, but the evidence raised unintended questions about his dealings with Paxton.
Law enforcement had been on the trail of the millionaire businessman for several years and in 2019, the FBI raided his home and offices in Austin. However, in 2020, eight top staff working with Paxton alerted the FBI that the attorney-general was abusing the privileges of his office by helping Paul secure properties for his real estate empire.
The eight deputies also claimed that Paxton even hired an attorney to evaluate Paul’s claims of being offended by federal agents. These claims are still being investigated by the FBI, and they are part of the reasons Paxton was impeached last month. Last week, Paxton’s lawyers revealed a document where the former attorney-general paid $121,000 for a home renovation – and that the renovation was not paid for by Paul as claimed in the media.
“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,” said Tony Buzbee, a prominent lawyer in Houston who was hired by Paxton. “We have the receipts. This is the type of evidence we tried to offer them once we found out this foolishness was going on.”
The renovation was carried out by Cupertino Builders. Funny enough, the manager of Cupertino was a friend of Paul, and the $121,000 wire transfer made on October 1, 2020, was made on the exact day the eight Paxton former deputies reported to the Texas attorney general’s office that they reported Paxton to the FBI. Meanwhile, Cupertino was only registered in Texas three weeks after the wire transfer payment was made.
