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Austin developer connected to Ken Paxton pleads guilty to false statements

A social media photo of Nate Paul wearing a gray suit and speaking into a microphone.
Social media via The Texas Tribune
Nate Paul's guilty plea will drop other counts against him, including wire fraud.

Austin area real estate developer Nate Paul — who was at the center of a whistleblower lawsuit concerning Attorney General Ken Paxton and the AG’s ensuing impeachment — pleaded guilty to making false statements to a financial institution on Wednesday and faces up to six months in prison.

Paul's guilty plea will drop other counts against him, including wire fraud, according to the Austin-American Statesman.

KERA reached out to legal representation for Paul and will update this story with any comment.

Paul was named a "Texas Tycoon" by Forbes in 2017, known at the time as a 30-year-old who was "building a real estate empire." His home and offices were raided by the FBI two years later.

An indictment filed in June 2023 alleged Paul underreported liabilities and overreported his account value. These false statements influenced lenders to give Paul loans, court documents allege.

The indictment in June 2023 listed eight counts of making false statements to lenders. In November 2023, four more counts were added to the indictment to include wire fraud.

Whistleblowers reported Paxton to the FBI in 2020 over concerns regarding his relationship with Paul.

The whistleblowers, who were former senior aides to the attorney general, alleged Paxton helped Paul investigate and harass business rivals, delay foreclosure sales of his properties and procure confidential records on the police investigating him.

The accusations were included as part of Paxton’s impeachment in 2023. The attorney general was later acquitted in his impeachment trial in front of the Texas Senate.

Paxton was not named in court documents related to Paul’s case, but faced his own criminal fraud case before abruptly cutting a deal and getting all charges dropped just weeks before trial.

Got a tip? Email Megan Cardona at mcardona@kera.org.

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Copyright 2025 KERA

Megan Cardona
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