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 improper homestead tax break on two of those homes at the same time.
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.
Mortgages have become political fodder
The mortgage revelations are sure 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 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 in similar, though far less serious, circumstances.
The Democrats have long been targets of Trump’s ire for having led various investigations into his conduct as president and as a business executive.
The Justice Department has launched a criminal investigation of James. It received a criminal referral for Schiff last week from the Federal Housing Finance Agency.
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 and Ivanka Trump.
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.”
It’s 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.
Legal experts say it’s 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.
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.
Lawji said the Paxtons’ simultaneous collection of two homestead tax breaks appears to be a more clearcut violation. That’s 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.”
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. 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.”
For over a decade, Schiff owned homes in Maryland and California, the state he represents, that were both designated as a primary residence. Schiff corrected the issue in 2020 — a step Paxton has not taken.
Paxton’s real estate dealings are not the first time he has drawn scrutiny for his conduct while in office.
He spent roughly 10 years under state indictment on securities charges while serving as the state’s top law enforcement official. The charges were eventually dropped in 2024. Other alleged misdeeds led to his impeachment by Texas’ GOP-controlled House in 2023. He was acquitted in a trial by the Senate.
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.
