North Texas businessman Charles Loper III, who oversees Paxton’s blind trust, in 2016 accused an energy company called Unity Resources and two of its investors, Byron Cook and Joel Hochberg, of defrauding him. The case centered in part on alleged securities fraud, with Loper accusing Cook and Hochberg of launching a scheme to profit off a Unity investment fund. Cook and Hochberg in turn accused Loper and Paxton of conspiring to sully their names because they were set to serve as key witnesses in a separate criminal securities fraud case against Paxton.

The attorney general previously served as a lawyer and board member for Unity and invested in the company.

In Paxton’s separate criminal securities fraud case, Cook and Hochberg accused Paxton of misleading them into investing in a McKinney technology company without disclosing he’d be paid a commission for the recruitments. Paxton was indicted in 2015, the year before Loper brought his lawsuit. Federal prosecutors dropped the charges against Paxton before trial in 2024, under a deal that required him to pay restitution and take legal ethics courses.