Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being
probed for similar issue
[July 24, 2025]
By BRIAN SLODYSKO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife,
Angela, are longtime owners of a $1.5 million house in a gated community
outside Dallas. In 2015, they snapped up a second home in Austin. Then
another.
The problem: Mortgages signed by the Paxtons contained inaccurate
statements declaring that each of those three houses was their primary
residence, enabling the now-estranged couple to improperly lock in low
interest rates, according to an Associated Press review of public
records. The lower rates will save the Paxtons tens of thousands of
dollars in payments over the life of the loan, legal experts say.
The records also revealed that the Paxtons collected an impermissible
homestead tax break on two of those homes, and they have routinely
flouted lending agreements on some of their other properties.
It is a federal and state crime to knowingly make false statements on
mortgage documents. It's also against the law in Texas to collect a
homestead tax break on two separate properties. Violating the terms of a
mortgage could allow lenders recourse to seek full payment of a loan,
according to legal experts.
Mortgages have become political fodder
The mortgage revelations are likely to become fodder in the Republican
primary for a U.S. Senate seat in which Paxton is seeking to topple the
incumbent, John Cornyn. The situation is further complicated by the
Trump administration's criminal pursuit of Democrats over similar
issues.
President Donald Trump has accused two of his political foes — Sen. Adam
Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James — of
committing mortgage fraud, though legal experts say the circumstances
are less serious.
The Democrats have long been objects of Trump’s ire for having led
various investigations into his conduct as president and as a business
executive.
Paxton, himself, has weighed in on the investigation of James, saying he
hoped authorities would look into her conduct. “I hope that if she’s
done something wrong, I hope that she’s actually held accountable,” he
told supporters last month.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of James,
FBI director Kash Patel told Fox News in May. The department received a
criminal referral for Schiff last week from the Federal Housing Finance
Agency, its director William Pulte confirmed in a social media post.
Neither the Justice Department nor the FHFA responded to an inquiry
about whether they may investigate Paxton, too.
James’ attorney, Abbe Lowell, urged the Trump administration to
investigate Paxton instead.
“If this administration was genuinely interested in rooting out fraud,
it appears they should stop wasting their time on the baseless and
discredited allegations against the New York Attorney General James and
turn their attention to Texas,” said Lowell, a prominent Washington
attorney whose past clients include Hunter Biden, Ivanka Trump and Jared
Kushner.
In a statement, Marisol Samayoa, a Schiff spokeswoman, blasted the
criminal referral as “a transparent attempt” by Trump “to punish a
perceived political foe who is committed to holding him to account.” She
added that Schiff disclosed to his lenders that he owned another home
that was a principal residence and sought guidance from an attorney.
It is unlikely that Paxton, a staunch Trump ally, will face the same
federal scrutiny as James and Schiff. It’s equally doubtful that Paxton
will face much legal trouble in Texas: His office is one of the primary
agencies tasked with investigating allegations of mortgage fraud.
Ken Paxton and his spokesman did not respond to multiple requests for
comment. Angela Paxton, who is a state senator in Texas, did not respond
to requests made through her office.
Three of the Paxtons' homes are each listed as a primary residence
Documents reviewed by the AP show the Paxtons hold mortgages on three
homes — one in suburban Dallas, two in Austin — that are each listed as
their primary residence. The designation comes with a considerable
financial upside.
Interest rates on primary homes are significantly lower than those for
mortgages on secondary homes or investment properties, saving buyers
tens of thousands of dollars — if not more — over the life of a loan.
Making a case against Paxton would require "establishing both that
Paxton was aware of the contents of the mortgage document, and also that
he was actively aware at the time that he signed it that this was not
going to be a primary residence,” said Jennifer E. Laurin, a professor
at the University of Texas Law School in Austin.
Legal experts say it is possible that the Paxtons’ lenders prepared the
documents and that the couple did not carefully review them before
signing.
Even if that were the case, some legal experts say that Paxton, as an
attorney and Texas’ top law enforcement officer, ought to have known
better.
“If he filled out lender documents knowing that they were false, then
that is a false statement to obtain a mortgage on favorable terms. That
would be actionable,” said Arif Lawji, a veteran Texas real estate
attorney. “He’s the chief enforcement officer. You have to be
accountable for stuff you do that’s wrong.”
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Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton attends a roundtable discussion at
the Community Operations Center, Friday July 11, 2025 in Kerrville,
Texas, where President Trump and Gov. Abbott met with first
responders and local officials one week after an devastating flash
flood. (Ricardo B. Brazziell/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Paxton collected two 'homestead' tax breaks
Low interest rates are not the only perk the Paxtons secured,
records show. In 2018, they simultaneously collected homestead
property tax breaks on their family’s home in suburban Dallas, as
well as on a $1.1 million home in Austin, property records and tax
statements show.
A homestead tax break is a property tax reduction that a homeowner
is only eligible to collect on one property that is also their
primary home.
The suburban Dallas home is where the Paxtons’ family has long
resided. It’s where Ken and Angela Paxton are registered to vote. It
is located in the state Senate district that Angela Paxton
represents in the Legislature, which Ken Paxton held before his
election in 2014 to be attorney general. It’s also where Ken
Paxton’s Senate campaign website until recently said he lived.
Lawji said the Paxtons’ simultaneous collection of two homestead tax
breaks appears to be a more clearcut violation. That is because one
must obtain a form and submit it to taxing authorities to receive
such a tax break, making it an “intentional act,” he said.
The tax break was worth several thousand dollars, a fact that
confounded real estate lawyers. “Why would you try to do all of
this,” Lawji said, “when you are the attorney general? That’s a
bigger question to me than the money, when you are AG and have to
enforce this law.”
Paxton may have violated mortgage terms by renting properties
Separately, land records indicate the Paxtons may have violated the
terms of at least two mortgages on other houses they own. The
mortgage on a home in College Station, Texas, says the property is
for the Paxtons’ exclusive use and cannot be rented out. Doing so
would be grounds for terminating the mortgage, the document states.
The home has been listed for rent on real estate websites on-and-off
since at least 2022.
Ken Paxton also holds a $1.2 million mortgage on a “5 bedroom luxury
cabin” in Broken Bow, Oklahoma, that is for rent on Airbnb and other
short-term rental sites, records show. The property’s mortgage
stipulates that it cannot be rented out.
Representatives for Stifel Bank, Cornerstone Home Lending and
Benchmark Mortgage, which issued the mortgages in question, did not
respond to requests for comment.
Schiff and James come under fire from GOP
Paxton’s real estate dealings are in many ways distinct from those
of James and Schiff, the Democrats targeted by the Trump
administration.
The investigation of James centers on forms she signed in 2023 while
helping a niece buy a home in Virginia. One form stated that James
intended to occupy the home as her “principal residence.” But in
other documents, the New York attorney general made clear she had no
intention of living there. An email to the mortgage loan broker two
weeks before she signed the documents stated the property “WILL NOT
be my primary residence.”
“As I’ve said from the beginning, if prosecutors want to know that
truth about Attorney General James’ mortgage applications, we are
ready and waiting with the facts,” said Lowell, James’ attorney.
For over a decade, Schiff owned homes in Maryland and California,
the state he represents, that were both designated as his primary
residence. In 2020, then a congressman, Schiff designated his
Maryland property as a second home — a step Paxton has not taken.
Paxton has faced legal and political challenges
Paxton’s real estate dealings are not the first time he has drawn
scrutiny for his conduct while in office.
Before his election as attorney general, Paxton, then a state
senator, admitted in 2014 to violating Texas securities law and paid
a fine.
He spent roughly 10 years under state indictment on securities
charges while serving as attorney general. The charges were
eventually dropped in 2024. Other alleged misdeeds in office led to
his impeachment by Texas’ GOP-controlled House in 2023. He was
acquitted in a trial by the Senate.
Angela Paxton did not cast a vote in his impeachment trial and
recently filed for divorce, citing Ken Paxton’s infidelity and other
“recent discoveries.” She did not elaborate.
What ultimately unleashed the impeachment push was Paxton’s
relationship with Austin real estate developer Nate Paul, who
pleaded guilty this year to one count of making a false statement to
a financial institution.
In 2020, eight top aides in Paxton’s office told the FBI they were
concerned the state’s top law enforcement official was misusing his
office to help Paul over the developer’s unproven claims about an
elaborate conspiracy to steal $200 million of his properties.
The House impeachment managers accused Paxton of attempting to
interfere in foreclosure lawsuits and issuing legal opinions to
benefit Paul. They also alleged that Paul employed a woman with whom
Paxton had an affair in exchange for legal help and that the
developer paid for expensive renovations to the attorney general’s
home in Austin.
That would be the same house that he declared in mortgage documents
was his third primary residence.
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