Ken Paxton, Attorney General of Texas, was just indicted on security fraud charges. The most serious of the charges is a first degree felony for misrepresenting his role in persuading investors to put some $600,000 in an energy company. Mr. Paxton made it appear that he too was investing when, in fact, his role was essentially that of salesperson and he was paid a substantial commission on the deal.
The fun part of this one comes from Paxton’s role in making this act a first degree felony. This kind of securities fraud used to be a third degree felony with sentencing from 2 to 10 years in prison. In 2003, as a member of the Texas legislature, he was one of the prime movers in changing it a first degree felony with sentencing between 5 and 99 years.
There’s lots more here. The NYTimes has it all if you’re interested.