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The Brief: July 8, 2015

The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is conducting an investigation into a company, Servergy, in which Attorney General Ken Paxton owns more than 10,000 shares.

TX Attorney General Ken Paxton, speaks at event hosted by the Texas Public Policy Foundation regarding impact of the EPA's Clean Power Plan on June 22, 2015

The Big Conversation

Attorney General Ken Paxton's name has come up in a federal investigation into a company in his hometown in which he owns more than 10,000 shares.

The company, Servergy, is based in McKinney and is under investigation from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for "potential misstatements" about the data servers it sells. 

The Tribune's Morgan Smith has more on the investigation, which was first reported by The Associated Press:

Paxton's email address appears with about 70 other contacts in one list of search terms in a subpoena of Servergy from the SEC. His name is also included in an October 2014 letter from Servergy to the SEC describing the search terms used to produce the documents the company turned over in response to a subpoena.

According to Paxton's 2014 personal financial statement filed with the Texas Ethics Commission, he owns at least 10,000 shares in the company. The SEC filings do not indicate it is seeking documents involving Paxton or the scores of other investors and additional parties.

Paxton, meanwhile, is facing his own legal troubles, with a special prosecutor last week saying he's hoping to bring felony fraud charges against the attorney general. A Paxton spokesman has called that investigation a "political hit-job."

Trib Must-Reads

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•    Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller gives his State of Agriculture address at 11 a.m.

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Quote to Note

“If you’re looking for dirt on Ken Paxton, he’s the cleanest guy in the world. You can take a flying leap."

Keresa Richardson, a Paxton donor whose email also surfaced in the SEC investigation into Servergy, tells The Associated Press

Today in TribTalk

The 2015 Texas House, from left to right, by Mark P. Jones — Who had the most conservative voting record in the Texas House this year? The most liberal? A new analysis breaks it down.

News From Home

•    Gov. Greg Abbott's call for meaningful ethics reform prompted heated debates this session on secret recordings, "dark money" and the lawmaker-to-lobbyist "revolving door." See what happened to ethics reform using our Texas Legislative Guide.

Trib Events for the Calendar

•    The Texas Tribune Festival on Oct. 16-18 at the University of Texas at Austin

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