Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue

https://apnews.com/article/paxton-mortgages-trump-primary-residence-homestead-deduction-bd259b6bd122afcaf4f11eac5a3a152e

Texas AG claimed three homes as primary residence. Democrats are being probed for similar issue
By BRIAN SLODYSKO
Updated 11:07 PM CDT, July 23, 2025

WASHINGTON (AP) — Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and his wife, Angela, are longtime owners of a $1.5 million house in a gated community outside Dallas. In 2015, they snapped up a second home in Austin. Then another.

The problem: Mortgages signed by the Paxtons contained inaccurate statements declaring that each of those three houses was their primary residence, enabling the now-estranged couple to improperly lock in low interest rates, according to an Associated Press review of public records. The lower rates will save the Paxtons tens of thousands of dollars in payments over the life of the loan, legal experts say.

The records also revealed that the Paxtons collected an impermissible homestead tax break on two of those homes, and they have routinely flouted lending agreements on some of their other properties.

It is a federal and state crime to knowingly make false statements on mortgage documents. It’s also against the law in Texas to collect a homestead tax break on two separate properties. Violating the terms of a mortgage could allow lenders recourse to seek full payment of a loan, according to legal experts.

The mortgage revelations are likely to become fodder in the Republican primary for a U.S. Senate seat in which Paxton is seeking to topple the incumbent, John Cornyn. The situation is further complicated by the Trump administration’s criminal pursuit of Democrats over similar issues.

President Donald Trump has accused two of his political foes — Sen. Adam Schiff of California and New York Attorney General Letitia James — of committing mortgage fraud, though legal experts say the circumstances are less serious.

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