Nate Paul

Natin^[1] "Nate" Paul (born 1987 in Victoria, Texas)^[2] is an American real estate developer, who founded the real estate firm World Class Capital Group. Paul is at the center of the abuse-of-office complaints that ultimately led to the 2023 impeachment and suspension of Attorney General of Texas Ken Paxton: 6 of the 20 articles of impeachment against Paxton in 2023 mention Paul by name.^[3]

Paul was raised in Victoria, Texas, by parents who immigrated from India.^[2] Using a $6,000 loan from his father, he founded his first business, a DJ company, at the age of 9.^[4] In 2002, at age 15, he moved to Austin to attend St. Michael's Catholic Academy.^[4] He subsequently enrolled at the University of Texas at Austin.^[1]

In 2006, he founded real estate development firm World Class Capital Group.^[5] In 2007, he bought his first apartment building, flipped it three months later, and used the profits to purchase five more buildings; in 2008, he dropped out of university to run his business full time.^[1] In 2010, he began making political donations.^[6]

In November 2016 Paul was listed on Forbes 30 Under 30,^[7] a pick the publication regretted seven years later, placing Paul on its Hall of Shame, featuring ten picks it wished it could take back.^[8][9]

In 2019, the FBI and Department of the Treasury raided Paul's home and business.^[10][11] Before the raid, in October 2018, Paul made a $25,000 donation to Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton. Following the donation, Paxton was the subject of whistleblower complaints from his aides that he used his office to help Paul's business interests and intervened on Paul's behalf.^[11]

In 2022, Avery Bradley sued Paul for $8M, claiming that Paul had mismanaged Bradley's $6.75M investment.^[12]

In March 2023, Paul was sentenced to 10 days in jail for contempt of court and fined $180,000 for lying in district court about money transfers in violation of a court order.^[5] The Supreme Court of Texas stayed the sentence pending appeal.^[13][11]

On June 8, 2023, Paul was arrested and booked into the Austin jail on a warrant issued by the FBI.^[14] According to the New York Times, "an eight-count felony indictment by a federal grand jury, unsealed Friday morning, alleges that Mr. Paul lied about his liabilities, his liquidity and the balance in his bank accounts, and that he falsified documents to obtain millions of dollars in loans that he would have otherwise been unable to obtain."^[15]