ProPublica and Texas Tribune: Paxtons' Blind Trust Put $600,000 Into a Convicted Mortgage Fraudster's Company, and Records Show the Trust Was "Far From Blind"

ProPublica and The Texas Tribune reported that Ken Paxton’s blind trust put a $600,000 cash infusion into the new construction materials business of a North Texas home builder, four years after the builder completed a federal prison sentence for mortgage fraud. Citing previously unreleased records from the 2023 impeachment investigation, the outlets report that the trust was “far from blind” and that Paxton had “at least some knowledge of the blind trust’s investments.” Wildcatter companies wired the Paxtons’ trust 15 payments between January and June 2023 totaling more than $83,000, and two of those companies later became delinquent on nearly $200,000 in 2023 property taxes. Paxton did not answer detailed questions from the news organizations; he has previously said he follows ethics laws.

Paxton, acquitted by the Legislature after the impeachment, is in a tight U.S. Senate race against Democrat James Talarico. ProPublica’s earlier reporting on his record is at 2026-10-19–propublica-paxton-anti-abortion-legal-strategies-spread-idaho-oklahoma-senate-bid.