In November of 2020, four whistleblowers who worked for Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton filed a lawsuit alleging whistleblower retaliation after raising concerns of alleged misconduct in the office. David Maxwell, Mark Penley, Blake Brickman, and Ryan Vassar, all former employees of Paxton’s office, alleged “that they experienced whistleblower retaliation after reporting Paxton to law enforcement in early October 2020,” according to previous WNN reporting.
Now, Paxton has reached a tentative agreement which involves a settlement that pays the whistleblowers $3.3 million and an apology statement, according to an article in The Texas Tribune.
Mark Penley worked as the deputy attorney general for criminal justice, David Maxwell was the agency’s former director of law enforcement, Blake Brickman served as the deputy attorney general for policy and strategy initiatives, and Ryan Vassar was the deputy attorney general for legal counsel. Brickman was fired in October 2020, Maxwell and Penley were fired in early November 2020, and Vassar was fired later in the same month.
The whistleblowers filed their lawsuit under the Texas Whistleblower Act and alleged that Paxton “had broken the law by using the agency to serve the interests of a political donor and friend, Nate Paul, an Austin real estate investor,” an article from The Texas Tribune reported. The four individuals alleged that Paxton “conducted several favors for Paul” and in the lawsuit, they allege that Paxton...
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