Attorney General Ken Paxton of Texas recently bought three condominiums at a luxury resort in Utah, a set of purchases that offered fresh insight into his wealth amid his run for U.S. Senate, according to property records reviewed by The New York Times.
The properties, along with a dozen others owned by Mr. Paxton, are at issue in his ongoing divorce negotiations with his wife, State Senator Angela Paxton, who has accused him of adultery.
Mr. Paxton, 63, purchased the condos, worth a total of $1.6 million, in February, according to local property records, and transferred them to his blind trust. On the deeds, Mr. Paxton listed his address as a Dallas-area home. Police records indicate a woman who is not his wife lives there. Mr. Paxton, who has been photographed vacationing with the woman, has not directly addressed the relationship.
Mr. Paxton won the Republican primary runoff in May, defeating Senator John Cornyn, and is now in a highly competitive race with James Talarico, 37, a Democratic state representative.
Public records reviewed by The Times show Mr. Paxton, his blind trust and another family trust now own at least 15 properties worth around $9 million, including a luxury cabin in Oklahoma, three homes in Florida and a plot of land in Hawaii.
Mr. Paxton’s expanding real estate portfolio has raised questions in the past about how he has amassed his wealth, despite his $153,000 salary as attorney general. Both Mr. Talarico and Mr. Paxton’s opponent in the Republican primary, Senator John Cornyn, have suggested Mr. Paxton has used his public role to benefit himself. Mr. Talarico has disclosed one property on his state and federal filings, as well as an annual salary of less than $100,000.
Mr. Paxton has long denied any wrongdoing. Nothing in the documents suggested anything improper in the condominium purchases.
A spokeswoman for Mr. Paxton’s campaign, Madison Cercy, did not directly respond to questions about the real estate transactions.
“Every time a fighter like Donald Trump and Ken Paxton stand up to the political elite, the same playbook comes out: dig through a man’s private life, string together puzzle pieces to draw the most damning conclusion,” Ms. Cercy wrote in an email.
Mr. Paxton’s assets have been part of corruption allegations against him during his more than two decades in office, and they figured in his impeachment trial in the Texas Legislature in 2023. Mr. Paxton was acquitted of the impeachment charges by the Texas Senate. A related federal investigation was dropped.
For several years, Mr. Paxton did not list the many of the properties owned by his blind trust on his required state financial statements, saying the disclosure rules were unclear. In 2024, state ethics regulators clarified the rules to require more explicit disclosures of properties owned by blind trusts on annual financial reports filed by elected officials. After that, Mr. Paxton listed interests in eight properties.
The locations were redacted at Mr. Paxton’s request in his disclosures, but local property records showed they spanned six states and range from modest rentals to vacation homes. Ten of the 15 were purchased in the last six years.
Mr. Paxton has not publicly discussed his wealth or real estate. But in 2023, a lawyer for Mr. Paxton described the purchases to The Wall Street Journal as a way of transferring long-term savings into real estate. Before being elected attorney general in 2014, Mr. Paxton had a private practice and specialized in estate planning, probate and real estate law. He has disclosed more than a dozen mutual funds on his state and federal financial statements.
The three Utah condos Mr. Paxton purchased this year are at Black Desert, a resort in Ivins, Utah, about two hours from Las Vegas. His blind trust already owned a fourth condo there, county records show.
The Paxtons have tried to keep their finances and divorce records secret as they negotiate over these and other assets. Last year, a judge agreed to seal the records, but the decision was reversed after news organizations pushed back in court.
Mrs. Paxton filed for divorce last year, citing “biblical grounds.”
On the condo deeds, Mr. Paxton’s address is listed as a home in Frisco, a city north of Dallas. When the condos were transferred to the blind trust, it used this same Frisco address.
A different trust bought the Frisco home in February, according to county property records, which do not name the beneficiaries or holders of the trust.
But police reports obtained by The Times refer to a woman who is not Mr. Paxton’s wife as the owner. (Officers responded to the home after burglar alarms were tripped there. The reports of the police calls, made in February and May, were obtained through a public records request.)
Mrs. Paxton declined to comment for this story. The divorce has not yet been finalized.
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