Questions loom about former HISD Trustee who went on vacation after entering guilty plea for conspiracy tied to bribes
Former Houston Independent School District Board of Education president, Rhonda Skillern-Jones, entered a guilty plea back in Oct. 2021 for conspiracy tied to bribes within the district. Now, she's traveling overseas at her leisure. Experts question if she's not being held accountable.
Election conspiracy theorists ordered freed in Texas lawsuit
An appeals court has ordered the release of the leaders of a Texas-based group that promotes election conspiracy theories after they had been jailed last week for not complying with a court order to provide information in a defamation lawsuit over some of their claims.
AP Explains: The FBI is investigating Texas AG Ken Paxton
DALLAS โ The FBI recently opened a criminal investigation into claims that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton abused his office to benefit a wealthy donor. Paxton, a 57-year-old lawyer, was a Texas legislator before he became the state attorney general in 2015. Seven senior lawyers in Paxton's office reported him to the FBI in late September, accusing him of abusing his office, bribery and other crimes. In another request for a criminal investigation that reached Paxton's office, Paul claimed businessmen and another judge were conspiring to steal $200 million worth of his properties. But the latter is rare in Texas and the attorney general has a defender in his wife, state Sen. Angela Paxton.
AP sources: Texas AG's affair tied to criminal allegations
Spokespersons for the attorney general did not respond to questions Thursday. During his Monday deposition, Paul explicitly denied employing the former Senate aide at his company, World Class, as a favor to Paxton. Under questioning during the deposition, Paul said he did not know how the woman he hired and the attorney general knew each other. During the deposition, Paul said the former Senate aide applied for a posted job and now works for him as a project manager. The attorney general told the group he had an affair but had since ended it and recommitted to his marriage, the person said.
Developer tied to Texas AG accused judge, others of fraud
The developer accuses 11 people of an intricate fraud that was allegedly set to include the judge and another court-appointed official facilitating a โrigged auction." The signed, 10-page โrequest to investigate" is one of two from Paul that were referred to Paxtonโs office, setting off the remarkable revolt by the Republicanโs staff. Paulโs complaint is largely based on things he says he heard second-hand. The second was sent to Cammack because he was already looking into Paul's allegations and it dealt with a federal judge, Moore told AP. Moore said she personally reviewed Paulโs claims only after the allegations by Paxtonโs staff became public.
Texas AG taps investigator tied to donor's defense attorney
DALLAS โ When Texasโ attorney general needed someone to probe a claim by one of his wealthy political donors alleging crimes by the FBI, he turned to a junior Houston lawyer with no prosecutorial experience, a modest criminal defense practice and ties to the donorโs defense attorney. Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton said his own staff had been working to โimpede the investigationโ into real estate developer Nate Paul's allegations against federal law enforcement. And social media posts show Cammack and Paulโs defense attorney, Michael Wynne, are connected on Facebook and are both part of a Houston civics organization. Paxtonโs choice of outside counsel raises further questions about a decision that has deepened political, and possibly legal, trouble for the attorney general. Michael Wynne, Paul's attorney and a former federal prosecutor, is the chair of the Houston Bar Associationโs criminal law and procedure section, and Cammack was elected to serve in that role next.
Man who made $500K offer to mayorโs team for private land deal was later honored by Turner
HOUSTON โ Nearly two years after members of Houston Mayor Sylvester Turnerโs inner circle received an email offering $500,000 contingent on the mayor helping close a private land deal, Turner gave the man behind that email a proclamation. Turner claims he first became aware of the email offer this week. โThis is forever your day in the city of Houston,โ Turner said last summer during Jason Yooโs 70th birthday. At the birthday celebration, Turner called on Andy Icken and William Paul Thomas to honor Yoo as well. The Mayorโs office claims the offer was never entertained and no one acted on it.
Investigation: Mayorโs office received $500K offer asking mayor to help close private land deal
HOUSTON โ A thread of emails dating back to 2017 between Mayor Sylvester Turnerโs inner circle and local businessman Jason Yoo, is raising questions about bribery. In the email, Yoo asked for City Hall and Turner to help him land and close a private real estate deal involving BP headquarters on the cityโs Westside for $348 million. They put this in an email,โ Wynne said. In fact, after Thomas wrote that the Mayor would meet with Yoo, Thomas sent the thread of internal city emails to Yoo, writing, "Iโm on this! (KPRC)Ultimately, in a separate email, Turner informed his assistant that he would not meet with Yoo after all.