Paxton drops appeal: Texas to pay $6.6 million to whistleblowers

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Texas will pay $6.6 million to four former top deputies to Attorney General Ken Paxton who say they were fired after reporting their boss to the FBI. This years-long legal saga reached its conclusion on Wednesday, when Paxton dropped his appeal of the April judgement.

The Legislature will still have to appropriate the funds to pay the judgment, either during the upcoming special session or during the next regular session. Lawyers for the plaintiffs said in a statement the judgment will accrue $1.2 million in interest if it goes unpaid until 2027.

“To avoid answering questions under oath about his corruption, Ken Paxton surrendered to the whistleblowers in the trial court and consented to judgment,” TJ Turner and Tom Nesbitt, lawyers for two of the plaintiffs, said in a joint statement. “But he appealed the judgment anyway, preventing the legislature from funding it during the recent session.”

In a statement, a spokesperson for the agency said Paxton “closed the case,” but reiterated his position that it was a “bogus judgement in support of baseless claims by rogue employees.”

Paxton is currently running for U.S. Senate, challenging incumbent Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primary.

The case originated in 2020, when eight top employees at the Office of the Attorney General went to the FBI to report allegations of corruption by Paxton. They accused Paxton of abusing his office to do favors for Austin real estate investor Nate Paul, including hiring an outside lawyer to investigate claims made by Paul about his business rivals.

Some of the employees subsequently resigned, but four were fired and sued Paxton in November 2020 for violating the Texas Whistleblower Act. Paxton offered to settle the suit for $3.3 million in February 2023, but when he asked the Legislature to foot the bill, the Texas House began its own investigation into the allegations.

Later that year, the House impeached Paxton on corruption and bribery charges, relying heavily on information and testimony from the dismissed employees. The employees testified at Paxton’s Senate trial, where he was eventually acquitted.

The whistleblower lawsuit continued, moving up and down the court system, even after Paxton said he would no longer contest the facts of the case. Paxton was ordered to be deposed as part of the lawsuit, which he successfully appealed to the Texas Supreme Court.

Finally, in April 2025, Travis County District Judge Catherine Mauzy ruled that the dismissed employees had proven by a “preponderance of evidence” that Paxton’s office had violated the whistleblower act. She ordered the office to pay the four plaintiffs between $1.1 and $2.1 million for wages lost, compensation for emotional pain, attorney’s fees and other costs, as well as any attorney’s fees related to future successful appeals.

Despite agreeing not to contest the underlying allegations, Paxton appealed the ruling, calling it a “ridiculous judgement that is not based on the facts or the law.”

In dropping the appeal, Paxton resolves one of the last remaining legal inquiries into his actions as attorney general, after he evaded impeachment and eluded federal inquiries. In the Senate campaign, Cornyn continues to try to hammer Paxton on his alleged ethical violations, but Republican voters, at least, don’t seem particularly concerned. Most polls have Paxton ahead of Cornyn by a good margin.

“No matter what the far left and liberal judges do to try and stop him, Attorney General Paxton will continue to focus on important issues facing the people of Texas and direct resources to enforcing the law, stopping the radical transgender movement, securing our elections, and protecting the border,” a spokesperson for the agency said in a statement.

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