AUSTIN, Texas — A federal judge in Austin has set a new trial date for Ken Paxton associate Nate Paul.
The real estate developer who has been charged with making false statements to financial institutions back in 2017 and 2018 will face a jury on Nov. 6, 2024.
This is the second time that Paul's trial date has been pushed back. The initial trial based on his not guilty plea to charges that he made false statements to banks that loaned him more than $170 million was initially scheduled for Aug. 14, 2023, but Paul’s defense was successfully able to get move the date to almost a full year later.
After he was charged with four new counts of wire fraud in November 2023, Paul’s attorneys said they would need even more additional time before the trial began. The lawyers estimate that there are anywhere from four to 4.5 million documents that need to be reviewed, as well as several new witnesses to talk to, a process which they believe could take months.
The Director of Advocacy at the University of Texas School of Law Mike Golden said four million documents is an extremely high number of information for an average case, but more in line with cases surrounding financial crimes.
“You tend to have a lot more documents because you have to get into the nitty gritty of things like bank statements and when wire transfers happened, or when things were valued,” Golden said.
Golden said these documents can range in length from one page to many, and can be paper, electronic, emails or even screenshots of text messages. He reiterated that Paul’s attorneys will need a targeted approach to make sure the jury understands the complexities and stays engaged during the trial.
“How can I organize this in a way that an audience who knows essentially nothing about this case can absorb and remember, and then apply during deliberations what they’ve learned,” Golden said.
“Because the new charges are even more complex, and will cover a period of more than eight years, they will require more trial preparation time. This is a document heavy case … a witness heavy case … and a highly-technical case,” Paul's attorneys wrote in a motion for continuance filed on Jan. 31.
When asked outside the courtroom if nine months would be enough to prepare for the trial, Paul's attorneys responded, "If we get all the stuff from the government."
The attorneys for Paul initially suggested a trial date to take place sometime in January 2025, but the government suggested that it start in October 2024. U.S. District Judge David Ezra ultimately decided on the Nov. 6, 2024 date.
Ezra also said that Paul would be allowed to attend any pretrial hearings or motions if he wishes, but would not be required to be there.