This deal stops a Federal criminal trial that has been on hold for years…..
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton (R) will have to pay just under $300,000 in a deal that keeps him out of federal court.
The deal — which also requires the attorney general to perform 100 hours of community service and take continuing legal education classes — allows Paxton to avoid a trial for securities fraud, for which he could have faced life in prison….
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But however happy Paxton is to avoid trial, the financial penalty is steep: nearly double the attorney general’s $153,750 salary. If he is unable to pay it or violates the other terms of his deal, jury selection for the trial will start anew.
It also is far from the end of his legal troubles. Paxton still faces a civil suit from four conservative members of his state office whom he allegedly fired for reporting him to the FBI — a case he has long fought and so far successfully avoided publicly testifying in….