Ken Paxton’s deposition is the latest leak from his embattled campaign.
Photo illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters
A leaked deposition shows Senate candidate Ken Paxton defended himself against allegations of fraud by saying he doesn’t remember it and blaming his now-estranged ex-wife.
The Texas attorney general’s unpublished 2014 testimony in a fraud investigation was provided to the New York Times by someone opposed to his election and was later independently verified by the Times.
This is the latest leak to hit the embattled MAGA candidate in the must-win race, as he has also faced a slow trickle of audio leaks.
The deposition was part of a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into a McKinney, Texas, technology startup called Servergy Inc.
Senate candidate Ken Paxton, pictured campaigning with President Trump on October 7, has been the victim of another leak, this time a 2014 deposition as part of a fraud investigation.
The SEC questioned Paxton, who represented the state district where it was based, about whether he hid that the company had paid him for recruiting investors, the Times reported, as its founder, Bill Mapp, was accused of making false statements to investors.
Paxton has long battled corruption allegations and questions about his growing wealth for years while in public office, but he was never convicted.
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Speaking under oath before federal lawyers in 2014, Paxton defended himself by using phrases such as “I don’t remember” and “I don’t remember” more than 200 times, according to the report.
He shifted the blame to his ex-wife, Angela Paxton, when asked about his tax returns, which appeared to contradict part of his testimony.
“I haven’t prepared a tax return in a long time because I don’t have time, so usually my wife does them,” Paxton said.
Ken and Angela Paxton in 2021. She filed for divorce last year.
The lawyers questioned Paxton about emails in which the startup’s founder, Mapp, appeared to offer him a commission for recruiting investors.
Paxton claimed he did not recall reading many of Mapp’s emails, according to the report, and that he did not provide services to the company.
When confronted with his own tax returns, showing that Paxton had disclosed $100,000 for “legal services” to the company, he pointed the finger at his then-wife.
Paxton met Mapp at a Dairy Queen to give him a check for his investment with Servergy, but Mapp rejected the money and instead offered him 100,000 shares, according to the report.
“He said, I can’t take your money. God doesn’t want me to take your money,” Paxton told attorneys during his deposition.
When asked why Mapp would give him stock for free, Paxton said in his deposition, “It didn’t make sense” and asserted, “Bill is a spiritual person.” He also said he did not ask a lawyer whether it was appropriate to accept the actions.
He also told lawyers he didn’t remember where the certificate proving he owned the shares was.
Paxton listed the shares as stock in his annual financial reports filed with state ethics regulators, but a Texas ethics law expert told the Times that Paxton could have violated state rules by not disclosing the stock as a gift.
During his deposition, Paxton also said he had invested more than $400,000 in various companies, but he said he did not have time to track his investments.
The federal judge threw out the SEC’s fraud case against Paxton in 2017, saying he had no duty to tell investors he received anything of value from the company.
Last year, Angela Paxton filed for divorce, accusing her husband of infidelity. The Daily Beast reached out to him for comment on the report but did not immediately receive a response. She declined to comment to the Times.
The Daily Beast also requested comment on Paxton’s campaign. He responded with a statement calling the leaked testimony a diversion.
“This is a 12-year-old deposition about a case that ended without a conviction, released to the press by a political opponent less than a month before Election Day,” said Nick Maddux, Paxton’s senior adviser. “Like President Trump, the attorney general has been politically persecuted for years for standing up to the establishment, and Texans have seen it every time. »
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