Paxtons' Blind Trust Put $600,000 Into Firm Run by Convicted Fraudster, Records Show

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton, invested $600,000 in a construction materials business run by Scott Sherman, a North Texas home builder who pleaded guilty to mortgage fraud in 2014. The money came through an arrangement presented as a blind trust, according to reports based on previously unreleased records from Paxton's 2023 impeachment investigation. Those records show the trust was not blind and did not shield the couple from its business dealings. The investment came four years after Sherman finished a federal prison sentence. Sherman's companies, including Wildcatter Sand Services and Grayson County Sand and Gravel, sent the Paxtons tens of thousands of dollars in the months before and during the impeachment while the couple faced mounting tax debts. Some of those businesses also stopped paying taxes to local governments, including school districts. The Texas legislature investigated Paxton, and he was acquitted. He is now the Republican nominee for U.S. Senate in a tight race against Democrat James Talarico. Ethics experts said the dealings undermine his role as the state's top law enforcement official.

Right-leaning outlets had not reported this story at the time of writing, while left-leaning and alternative/independent outlets had. Among left-leaning outlets, The New Republic leads with the investment and the blind-trust claim. It sets Paxton's public statement about fighting fraud against the deal, quotes ethics lawyer Richard Painter, and notes the acquittal and Senate race. The Guardian US runs an opinion column by Moira Donegan. Its opening focuses on Democrats' long-shot hopes in Texas, Beto O'Rourke and state demographics, and it calls Paxton's weakness obvious and him dishonorable. The excerpt does not detail the trust. ProPublica, an alternative outlet, frames its headline around Paxton's tough-on-crime image and adds detail on the tax debts and the wired payments.