AUSTIN, Texas — With all of the talk around Attorney General Ken Paxton’s impeachment proceedings, people may be wondering: who is Nate Paul? Why does his name keep getting mentioned?
We’ll start from the beginning.
Nate Paul is an Austin financier who founded the multi-billion dollar holding company World Class Holdings in 2007. He also happens to be one of the largest private real estate owners in the U.S.
The portfolio of World Class "spans multiple asset classes, including office, retail, multifamily, industrial, hospitality, self-storage and marinas located across 17 states nationwide," according to its website.
Among the companies listed on the website are World Class Property Company, Great Value Storage, NowSpace, World Class Technologies, World Class Mortgage Capital and Westlake Industries.
But the company has been under fire over the years. Back in 2019, the FBI was spotted raiding World Class Holdings' downtown Austin office. Then in 2021, the company had nine properties foreclosed upon, which totaled a loss of more than $130 million.
This is where Paxton gets involved.
In 2020, top deputies from Paxton’s agency told federal authorities that they believed Paxton may have misused his authority to benefit Paul.
A whistleblower lawsuit alleged that Paxton helped Paul gain access to investigative documents that were related to the 2019 FBI search of Paul’s business and home. They also said that Paxton ordered a written opinion at 2 a.m. saying the foreclosures of Paul’s properties had to be suspended under pandemic safety rules.
The whistleblowers allege that, in return, Paul donated $25,000 to Paxton's campaign, which ultimately went to remodeling his home and employing Paxton’s mistress.
KVUE has reached out to Nate Paul and World Class Holdings for a statement about his connection to Paxton’s impeachment proceedings, but we have yet to hear back.
On Thursday, May 8, Paul was arrested on federal charges.