Might the federal government try to use Austin real estate developer Nate Paul against Ken Paxton?
One of the lawyers for the suspended Texas attorney general thinks so — and was vocal about it even before Paul's Friday indictment for lying to financial institutions.
“You don’t have to be Nostradamus to assume that they’re going to try to flip Nate Paul to testify against Ken [Paxton],” Dan Cogdell said to the Dallas Morning News.
"It's the oldest play in the book,” he told the Houston Chronicle
Experts agree, although there’s a lot we don’t know about the FBI’s reported-but-not-confirmed investigation of Paxton.
“From a general standpoint, it is not uncommon for the government to focus on conduct of one member or one party to a conspiracy or activity … to seek their cooperation to go after the more serious or senior person,” said Sam Louis, a former federal prosecutor in the southern district of Texas.
The federal probe into Paxton is in addition to his upcoming impeachment trial in the Texas Senate. Most of the allegations in Paxton’s impeachment involve Paul, a Paxton political donor.
Louis told KERA that public corruption investigations by the U.S. Department of Justice do not rely on circumstantial evidence — they must have hard evidence, as well as evidence of the official’s intent to use his or her office for personal gain.
Paul Coggins, who served as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Texas during the Clinton Administration, said in public corruption cases, prosecutors certainly want multiple people on the inside to testify about any scheme.
“Both as a defense lawyer and as a prosecutor, I’ve seen fathers turn on sons, I’ve seen best friends turn on each other, I’ve seen husbands turn on wives,” Coggins said. “Just the fact that people may be in a scheme together doesn’t mean they’re going to hang together when they’re facing the prospect of many, many years in prison.”
There are several figures who can serve that “insider” role in the Paxton investigation, Coggins said, including whistleblowers at the attorney general’s office, the Paxton mistress who Paul allegedly hired, and now Paul himself.
“Your job … as the prosecutor then is to corroborate that story,” Coggins said.
Cogdell, the Paxton impeachment lawyer, also implied in the Chronicle that testimony from a flipped witness may not be reliable.
“Sometimes people cooperate and say things that are true; sometimes people cooperate and say things that are untrue to lessen their exposure,” he said.
Lying to federal law enforcement, however, comes with significant risk, Paul Coggins said — including a federal felony charge that could lead to more prison time.
Got a tip? Email Bret Jaspers at bjaspers@kera.org.
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