AUSTIN (KXAN) – Citing the complexity of the federal case and millions of records to analyze, attorneys for Nate Paul, the Austin real estate developer with ties to Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment, have asked to reschedule his bank and wire fraud trial to January 2025, according to a motion for continuance filed Wednesday.
Paul’s trial was most recently scheduled to begin July 29. Attorneys for Paul, 36, say that’s too soon, given there are more than 4 million outstanding documents to handle, and a superseding indictment filed in November that “added an entirely new, complex case,” according to the defense’s motion.
E.G. Morris, the attorney who filed the motion for Paul, said they “never had a case with such a large volume of documents.”
“The government investigated this case for nearly a decade, and no doubt has its own view of what is most important,” Paul’s attorneys said in the motion. “Defense counsel is entitled to adequate time to conduct its own review of the discovery, and assess its relative importance.”
Paul is the head of World Class Holdings, a real estate development company based in Austin that formed and used numerous limited partnerships to manage real estate ventures in Texas and beyond.
Paul’s attorneys also said they also must review a Microsoft Access database with data from 700 different bank accounts used by FBI forensic accountants, other underlying bank records and grand jury materials. Discovery materials also include FBI email messages going back to 2014, Texas State Securities Board files, questionnaires sent by the FBI to World Class investors in 2020, audio and video of Paul’s arrest on June 8, 2023, and more, according to the motion and its exhibits.
In mid-January, Paul’s attorneys conferred with federal prosecutors on a new trial date but couldn’t reach an agreement. The government didn’t oppose rescheduling, but they proposed a date in October 2024, according to the recent motion.
History of indictments
Federal authorities indicted Paul in June 2023 on eight counts of making false statements to mortgage lenders. Prosecutors allege Paul lied to banks to obtain mortgage loans in 2017 and 2018, by intentionally inflating his bank balances and undervaluing his debts.
In a superseding indictment filed in November, Paul was hit with an additional three counts of wire fraud and one count of conspiracy to commit wire fraud. The new indictments allege Paul was involved in an eight-year wire fraud conspiracy dating back to 2011, making false statements to partners in limited partnerships, misstating partnership bank balances and wrongfully removing money from limited partnerships for use in his other businesses, according to court records.
Paul pleaded not guilty to all charges against him. An attorney for Paul did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the case.
Paul’s case has faced a high level of public scrutiny, due to his close ties to Paxton and allegations that Paxton abused his office to help Paul, which led to Paxton’s 2023 impeachment.
Paxton denied any wrongdoing and was acquitted in a Senate trial last year on all articles of impeachment.
