AG Candidate Sam Houston Calls on Opponent To Pay Back Illegal Funds
Sam Houston, Democratic nominee for Attorney General, today called on his opponent to pay back the money he made while he was illegally serving as an investment advisor.
Houston also released three years of his tax returns and challenged opponent Ken Paxton to do the same.
“We don’t know how much money Mr. Paxton made while he was getting kickbacks for soliciting his clients as an unregistered investment adviser,” said Houston at an Austin news conference. “Mr. Paxton should release his tax returns to show how much he made and then pay back that amount to his clients.”
Paxton admitted he was working as an investment advisor in 2012 without registering with the State Securities Board, an action punishable as a third degree felony under Texas law. Even worse, not only was he taking money from his clients as an unregistered adviser, he was also getting a kickback from the financial firm to whom he steered his clients. Earlier this year, Paxton was reprimanded and fined $1,000 by the Texas Securities Board for his failure to register.
“The money Ken Paxton made should be returned,” said Houston. “I have challenged him to a debate. Now I challenge him to return those illegal dollars.”
Houston challenged Paxton September 3 to a debate where Paxton could explain his confession to a third degree felony and discuss issues of importance to the Attorney General’s Office. So far, Paxton has not accepted Houston’s challenge.
Houston said Paxton releasing his tax returns would also show the many businesses in which he is involved. The Dallas Morning News reported on Sunday that since Paxton “joined the legislature the number of businesses he has a stake in has jumped from zero to 28.” The newspaper says Paxton has voted on bills that affect his personal holdings.
On Monday, Houston called on Paxton to return $375,000 in donations from the Empower Texas PAC and to re-pay the $1 million loan the PAC guaranteed after media reports that Empower Texas had reported no political expenditures on its 2012 federal tax returns, while reporting to the state that it had spent $350,000. This could lead to criminal or civil penalties against Empower Texas.
“Mr. Paxton is running to become the top law enforcement officer in the state,” said Houston. “And yet time and again, he has proven that he has no personal or professional ethics. I will return trust and transparency to the Attorney General’s Office and I will represent all Texans.”
Sam Houston’s income tax returns are available at: http://samhoustonfortexas.com/sam-houstons-tax-returns/.
(Houston is releasing income tax returns from 2012, 2011 and 2010 today. He will release 2013 next week when the return is filed.)
Sam Houston has been a successful attorney for 26 years. He is a partner in the firm of Shepherd, Scott, Clawater & Houston. In his campaign for Texas Attorney General, he has received the endorsements of the Austin American-Statesman, the Corpus Christi Caller-Times, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Texas AFL-CIO, the Texas Branch of the American Federation of Teachers and the Texas Classroom Teachers Association.