Austin real estate investor Nate Paul gets a second temporary reprieve from jail

For the second time in less than a month, Austin real estate investor Nate Paul has avoided going to jail after appealing to the Texas Supreme Court.

Last month, Paul was ordered to spend 10 days behind bars at the Travis County Jail starting on March 15. State District Judge Jan Soifer had found Paul in contempt for lying in court about certain transfers of money that were greater than a spending limit she had set in a fraud case involving Paul and an Austin nonprofit, the Roy F. and Joann Cole Mitte Foundation.

On March 10, Soifer found Paul guilty of eight counts of contempt of court, including three counts of perjury in connection with the Mitte case. That's when she sentenced him to the 10 days in jail for each count, to run concurrently. Paul then filed a motion with the 3rd Court of Appeals to overturn the order.

On March 31, the 3rd Court kept Soifer's contempt of court ruling in place, although the court agreed with Paul's contention that two of the violations should be struck from Soifer's order.

Soifer then issued an amended order, with Paul accused of six rather than eight violations. She again ordered him to 10 days in jail, starting April 10.

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Paul's next stop was the Texas Supreme Court.

On Friday, Paul's attorney, Brent Perry, emailed the American-Statesman a copy of a ruling from the Texas Supreme Court that temporarily stayed, or halted, the case, meaning once again Paul has avoided going behind bars − at least for now. Perry had no comment on the ruling.

With the latest action, the jail term is stayed indefinitely, until the Texas Supreme Court can consider Paul’s petition for habeas corpus, which is a writ requiring a person under arrest to be brought before a judge or into court, said Ray Chester an attorney for the Mitte Foundation. Chester said the Texas Supreme Court found that Paul's petition violated a statutory word count rule that limits the petition to 4,500 words, and Paul's petition was about 10,500 words.

Paul’s lawyers have until Friday to redraw their petition. Chester's response on behalf of the Mitte Foundation is due May 4.

Soifer's sanctions against Paul stem from a lawsuit between Paul and the Mitte Foundation. The nonprofit had sued Paul for fraud, alleging he failed to make required disclosures about money the foundation had invested in Paul's businesses.

A March 3 letter sent by Elliott Beck, a staff attorney for Soifer, said Soifer found Paul in contempt of court. She fined him $181,760 for violating court orders, including making illegal transfers from bank accounts. Paul's attorney previously has denied the allegations that led to Soifer's contempt orders against his client.

However, the March 3 letter from Soifer's office said that Paul's actions in the case "are part of a pattern of non-compliance with court orders."

In part, the letter stated that Paul "offered false testimony, committing perjury, sitting in the witness box just a few feet away from the Court, in responding to multiple questions by counsel and the Court. He lied about both transfers ... and he lied about his personal bank accounts, even when confronted with evidence of such accounts. He failed and refused to produce documents of such accounts, even after the hearing was recessed for a week to give him time to gather such documents."

In March, Chester said Soifer's decision to find Paul in contempt is the right one — and a long time coming.

"My client and I were extremely gratified by the courage shown by Judge Soifer at arriving at this decision," Chester said. "Mr. Paul has been getting away with avoiding court orders from multiple courts and multiple judges, and it's about time someone had the guts to hold him accountable."

More: Austin businessman Nate Paul sues investigators, accuses them of lying to obtain search warrants

Paul has made news in the past few years over a raid of his office and home by state and federal investigators in 2019, as well as Paul's ties to state Attorney General Ken Paxton that were the focus of a whistleblower case brought by several of Paxton's former top deputies.

Back in 2020, the deputies accused Paxton of illegal conduct that they said benefited Paul. Separately, Paul has been entangled in numerous bankruptcy proceedings and legal battles with his debtholders in recent years, and he has lost a number of high-profile properties — including the 3M campus in far Northwest Austin — as a result.

Paul has repeatedly denied any wrongdoing in connection with any accusations that have been made against him.

When Paul lost the 3M property and other holdings in 2021, he said, "To those that have exhibited disdain towards me: Sorry, I’m not going anywhere."

This article originally appeared on Austin American-Statesman: Nate Paul granted stay by Texas Supreme Court in contempt charge