Austin real estate developer Nate Paul pleads guilty

AUSTIN – KXAN reports that real estate developer Nate Paul agreed to plead guilty Wednesday to one charge of making false statements to a lending institution. The plea ends his 18-month federal bank and wire fraud case related to his work as head of World Class, according to court proceedings.

The government recommended no more than six months in prison, five years additional years of supervised release and a maximum $1 million fine. The sentence is not yet set.

The case is being sent to the US Probation Office for a pre-sentencing evaluation. If the plea deal is accepted, the sentence is capped at 6 months. The remaining 11 counts against Paul will be dismissed, according to U.S. Magistrate Judge Dustin Howell, who oversaw the plea.

Paul is allowed to remain out of custody, and the plea agreement remains sealed.

Paul potentially faced decades in prison, and his jury trial was set to begin Feb. 18.

Federal authorities first indicted Paul in June 2023 on eight counts of bank fraud. He was accused of making false statements to lenders to obtain over $172 million in loans. In November that year, prosecutors added four additional wire fraud charges in a superseding indictment.

For each of the eight bank fraud counts, Paul faced up 30 years in prison and a $1 million fine. The four wire fraud counts each carried a maximum 20 years in prison and $250,000 fine, according to the U.S. Department of Justice.

The plea agreement ends the uncertainty surrounding Paul’s legal troubles, and it underscores his fall from the top of Austin’s commercial real estate scene – where the 37-year-old was a powerhouse with numerous multi-million-dollar properties peppered across town.

Paul was the chief of World Class Holdings, a company with myriad sub-businesses and, at one point, over $1 billion in assets across 17 states, according to a Forbes report.

Cracks in Paul’s real estate empire became visible after a 2019 FBI raid on his home and business headquarters. Many of his World Class companies have since filed for bankruptcy. Paul also became entangled in allegations of abuse of office against Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Who is Nate Paul — the Austin real estate investor charged with 8 federal counts

The plea agreement announced Wednesday comes days after Senior U.S. District Judge David Ezra denied a motion for continuance sought jointly by the defense and prosecutors to push the trial date from mid-February to mid-April. At a Jan. 8 hearing, Ezra said the case had “gone on way too long,” and both sides had enough time to prepare for a February trial.

Also at the Jan. 8 hearing, a court clerk said both the defense and government were “simultaneously talking about a plea agreement.” That was the first public mention of a possible plea deal. One of Paul’s attorneys previously told KXAN they were taking the case to trial, and Paul hired a team of top-flight defense attorneys, including several from Washington D.C. based firm Williams & Connolly.

The plea agreement spares Paul from a trial that would have stretched several weeks. The government notified the court in January it expected its portion of the trial to take 10 to 14 days – not including the defense’s case and rebuttal.
Paxton connection

Separate from the federal case, Paul was ordered to serve a 10-day jail sentence in November for contempt of court for perjury and violating an injunction in a civil lawsuit against a charity, according to records from Travis County District Court, where the case was being handled.

That civil case linked Paul to allegations against Paxton for disregarding his official duty by using his office to assist Paul in the lawsuit. Paxton was impeached over that allegation, among others, including misusing his power to have legal opinions written to help Paul avoid foreclosures and by obtaining previously undisclosed information to assist Paul, according to the articles of impeachment.

Paxton was ultimately acquitted on all the counts against him in a State Senate trial in 2023.