Texas attorney general’s criminal fraud trial set for May

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is set to stand trial on criminal securities fraud charges in May.

The trial date finally set by state District Judge George Gallagher comes 18 months after Texas’ top prosecutor was indicted on felony charges of defrauding wealthy investors.

Paxton has pleaded not guilty and faces 5 to 99 years in prison if convicted.

Federal securities regulators similarly accuse Paxton of duping investors in 2011, five years before he became attorney general.

The Republican is accused of breaking the law by luring investors toward the high-tech startup Servergy Inc. without telling them the company was paying him.

A nearly identical civil case brought against Paxton by the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission was thrown out by a federal judge.