The whimpering end of this saga, barring anything extraordinary in the future.
An Austin real estate developer who was central to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment case was sentenced on Wednesday to supervised release and a $1 million fine for bank fraud.
A judge allowed Nate Paul to avoid prison time after he pleaded guilty in January to lying to a lending institution as part of a deal with federal prosecutors. In exchange, prosecutors agreed to drop 11 other charges against him.
U.S. District Judge David Ezra could have imposed a sentence of anywhere from zero to six months. The probation office had recommended six months. He chose to sentence Paul to a one-day sentence, but he applied 10 days that Paul served in state court as part of a separate civil case, meaning he will not have to serve any additional time.
“Mr. Paul has been a very active, and I should say, quite successful real estate developer in this community,” Ezra said. “Unfortunately, at some point, Mr. Paul lost his way. I have no evidence to indicate that Mr. Paul has been doing this all along throughout his entire career.”
One of Paxton’s defense attorneys had at one time speculated that the Paul case might have been federal prosecutors’ attempt to extract information on Paxton; however, case documents never publicly mentioned any connection to Paxton.
Ezra said he was moved by the words of Paul’s lawyer, Tobin Romero, who described Paul as a dedicated and humble family man who loves his kids and contributed to his community through a youth basketball league that he funded. He said he weighed that along with the fact that Paul did pay back the money that he owed to the lending institution.
He added that Paul becoming a convicted felon is, in and of itself, a “form of punishment to a businessman.”
Paul will be subject to five years of supervised release, and he will also have to submit to home confinement from 7 p.m. to 7 a.m., but he will be allowed to work during the day and request exceptions for medical and other reasons. Ezra said he would not make Paul wear an ankle monitor because he found it “demeaning” for a nonviolent criminal.
Whatever. Paul took that plea in January, and despite the ignominious end of the Paxton case, you cannot make me believe there was no connection. Maybe there wasn’t enough evidence to bring charges, maybe the coverup was successful, maybe the prosecution bungled it, who knows. I will die believing Ken Paxton got away with it.