Must-Win MAGA Candidate Exposed Blaming Wife in Fraud Probe

Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty/Reuters A leaked deposition shows Senate candidate Ken Paxton defended himself against fraud allegations by claiming he doesn’t remember and blaming his now-estranged wife.

The Texas attorney general’s never-before-seen 2014 testimony from a fraud probe was given to The New York Times by someone who opposes his election and was then independently verified by The Times.

It was the latest leak to hit the struggling MAGA candidate in the must-win race, as he has also faced a slow drip of audio leaks.

The deposition was part of a U.S.

Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) investigation into a technology start-up in McKinney, Texas, called Servergy Inc.

The SEC grilled Paxton, who represented the state district where it was based, on whether he hid that the company compensated him for recruiting investors, the Times reported, as its founder, Bill Mapp, was accused of making false statements to investors.

Paxton has long fought allegations of corruption and questions about his ballooning wealth for years while serving in public office, but he has never been convicted.

Speaking under oath to federal lawyers in 2014, Paxton defended himself while using phrases such as “I don’t remember” and “I don’t recall” more than 200 times, according to the report.

He passed the buck to his now-estranged wife, Angela Paxton, when asked about his tax returns, which appeared to contradict part of his testimony.

“I haven’t prepared a tax return in a long time because I don’t have time, so typically, actually my wife actually does them,” Paxton said.

Lawyers questioned Paxton about emails in which the start-up’s founder, Mapp, appeared to offer him a commission for recruiting investors.

Paxton claimed he did not remember reading many of Mapp’s emails, according to the report, and did not perform services for the company.

When confronted with his own tax returns, showing Paxton had disclosed $100,000 for “legal services” to the company, he pointed the finger at his then-wife.

Paxton met with Mapp at a Dairy Queen to give him a check for his investment with Servergy, but Mapp rejected the money and instead gifted him 100,000 shares of stock, the report said.