A recent disclosure shows that Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accepted more than $329,000 from donors and “family friends” toward his legal bills as he defends himself against securities fraud charges. As the Tribune’s Jim Malewitz writes, filings to the … Read More
Updated: 8:25 p.m. Thursday, June 30, 2016 | Posted: 7:34 p.m. Thursday, June 30, 2016A state appeals court Thursday rejected Attorney General Ken Paxton’s motion to reconsider its June 1 ruling that upheld criminal charges against him.The two-sentence order from the Dallas-based … Read More
The TMHP document reported about in our last story that was recently appended to a court filing by Xerox shows that staff from the Health and Human Services Commission and its Office of Inspector General were well aware of the … Read More
AUSTIN — A Democratic advocacy group has asked the Texas Rangers, Travis County district attorney and State Auditor’s Office to investigate whether several state agencies misused taxpayer money to pay employees long after they left their jobs. The Lone Star Project on Tuesday sent letters … Read More
Should taxpayers pay severance to state employees to take the sting out of unexpected job losses or to protect the uncovered tails of the elected officeholders who fire them? The state’s legislative budget writers have promised to dig into stories … Read More
PHILLIPS COUNTY, Ark. – A Phillips County woman was arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of Medicaid fraud, according to Attorney General Leslie Rutledge. Jacqueline Young, 36, surrendered to the Phillips County Sheriff’s Office and was later released on her own recognizance, … Read More
AUSTIN — Gov. Greg Abbott said Wednesday that indicted Attorney General Ken Paxton is innocent until proved guilty and is serving Texas well as the state’s top attorney while he awaits his day in court. Abbott compared Paxton’s legal woes … Read More
AUSTIN, TEXAS Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton, who faces felony charges of defrauding investors unrelated to his office, has the support of Gov. Greg Abbott and other state leaders and hasn’t been asked to resign, a Paxton spokesman said Tuesday.The … Read More
AUSTIN – After just more than a month on the job, embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton’s chief of staff, Hiram Sasser is leaving the agency, according to an internal email sent Tuesday. The email from First Assistant Attorney General Jeff … Read More
AUSTIN — A third top official in Ken Paxton’s office was kept on the payroll after she left the agency — this time for nearly six months — state records show, raising more questions about the attorney general’s use of a … Read More
In a new, four-minute video released by his campaign the day before he’s set to appear in court in Dallas, embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton defends himself against “crimes I didn’t commit” and says he’s been wrongly accused by people … Read More
Attorney General Ken Paxton recently accepted the resignation of two of his senior employees.But while both workers quit the agency, their paychecks continued. Before leaving, they had signed letters of resignation that stipulated that they’d be considered on paid “administrative … Read More
AUSTIN – Ken Paxton told federal investigators that a tech CEO gave him $100,000 worth of stock five years ago, but he never disclosed the shares as either a gift or income, an issue ethics experts agreed could spell more trouble for the attorney general … Read More
The Houston Chronicle reported this morning that Frianita Wilson, the wife of former Health and Human Services Commission Inspector General Doug Wilson and an HHSC executive in her own right, is now back at work at HHSC after being on administrative … Read More
Since he took office in 2015, nearly half of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s total security costs have gone to dozens of trips to Collin County, where he has a home and businesses, according to records obtained by the Texas Tribune. Paxton has used taxpayer-funded security … Read More
A former aide to Texas Attorney GeneralKen Paxton said Friday that he asked for her resignation and that she did not ask for nor negotiate a now-controversial departure package that left the state paying her thousands of dollars in salary and benefits. … Read More
AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s scheduler is leaving the agency, the latest staffer to depart in a string of high-profile resignations. Katherine Lawhon’s last day in the office was nearly six weeks ago, according to her personnel file, released to The … Read More
The office of Attorney General Ken Paxton is formally defending his decision to continue paying two high-level staffers after they resigned, saying Paxton “acted in a compassionate, legal, and ethical manner.” In an op-ed submitted Tuesday to a number of media … Read More
AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton is still paying a former top staffer more than a month after she left the agency, and aides refuse to answer questions about a special payment arrangement for her and Paxton’s former deputy amid … Read More
The investigative digging of the Texas media into the operations of state government has once again revealed to the public, otherwise blissfully ignorant, the tremendous apparent hypocrisy of several state officials who view their positions as the divine right of … Read More
AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton’s top lieutenant resigned for a second time on Friday. Paxton’s office announced First Assistant Attorney General Chip Roy’s resignation in March. His second resignation came the day after The Dallas Morning News reported that Roy and at least one other … Read More
Former First Assistant Attorney General Chip Roy on Friday defended receiving thousands of dollars in salary and benefits after leaving the attorney general’s office to join a pro-Ted Cruz super PAC. In a written statement to the Tribune, Roy responded to a report Thursday in … Read More
AUSTIN — The state is paying thousands of dollars in salaries and benefits to at least two former high-level staffers in Attorney General Ken Paxton’s office who haven’t worked there for over a month. Charles “Chip” Roy resigned as first … Read More
Since 2012, there have been a large number of outstanding but here-to-date sealed False Claims Act lawsuits against Texas dentists who billed Medicaid for orthodontic treatment from 2007 to 2011. Some are known and high profile but there are 46 pages … Read More
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has been charged in federal court with allegedly misleading investors in a technology company. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission filed the charges Monday in a Sherman-based court. They are similar to the allegations Paxton … Read More
State Medicaid regulators pursuing orthodontists who they claim bilked Texas out of tens of millions of dollars suffered another decisive setback Thursday, when an appeals court ruled investigators hadn’t proven any fraud had occurred in one of the state’s largest … Read More
Today the Sixth Court of Appeals issued their decision in the Medicaid payment hold case of Antoine Dental Center of Houston. The court again exonerated the practice from allegations of Medicaid fraud, again terminated the payment hold and, for the … Read More
The Texas Supreme Court this week issued a ruling allowing a whistleblower suit filed by Michael McMillen, a former Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General attorney, to continue. McMillen contends he was fired in early 2012 for reporting … Read More
Ever since Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was indicted last summer on three felony charges related to alleged financial fraud in his personal business dealings, he has said little about the matter save for an initial court appearance where he … Read More
A Texas Ethics Commission opinion that would have allowed Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton to fund his ongoing legal battle through out-of-state donors failed to pass by one vote Monday.The commission was asked anonymously if an individual working in the attorney … Read More
A reasonable person would not question the righteousness of the mission, which is rooting out fraud and fighting crime. Yet it’s not unreasonable to ask whether so many Texas Attorney General’s Office investigators need assault-style rifles, handguns and tactical gear … Read More
We want to close out 2015 with a round-up of the year’s most important stories relating to TDMR issues. It has been an exceptional year for changes at the Health and Human Services Commission. The implosion that occurred at HHSC … Read More
AUSTIN — During his 14 years as Texas’ top lawyer, Greg Abbott oversaw a significant — and expensive — escalation of police and firepower in the attorney general’s office, which now boasts 160 cops and an arsenal of assault rifles, … Read More
With the Government Accounting Office estimating that in 2014 some $124 billion was siphoned off the Medicaid and Medicare system nationally, we are again witnessing the truly schizophrenic nature of Medicaid enforcement actions in this country. In New York, this past week the … Read More
AUSTIN — House budget writers held a four-hour hearing Thursday on a long-running procurement mess at the state attorney general’s office. Guess who completely escaped mention? Gov. Greg Abbott, that’s who. That was curious because Abbott was attorney general for … Read More
A suit to compel the Texas Health and Human Services Commission to release the full list of names of Medicaid providers that have been placed under a “credible allegation of fraud” payment hold since 2010 has been filed in Travis … Read More
AUSTIN — Attorney General Ken Paxton has removed 11 technology contractors who were working on a problem-plagued upgrade to the state’s child-support data system.The shakeup comes as House members are set next week to begin an investigation into how the … Read More
November 17, 2015 — The Supreme Court of Texas has dismissed a petition that would have prevented practitioners from receiving Medicare funds when that provider is being investigated for fraud. In the November 13 dismissal, the state Supreme Court upheld … Read More
This past Friday, the Texas Supreme Court dismissed a petition from the Texas Office of Attorney General to review a 3rd Court of Appeal decision preventing the Health and Human Services Commission Office of Inspector General from placing payment holds … Read More
A House leader said Thursday that he plans to investigate the state’s oversight of a major technology contractor after Attorney General Ken Paxton alerted lawmakers to cost overruns in a contract. Earlier this week, Paxton aides informed GOP state leaders’ offices … Read More
