Veteran San Antonio State Senator Carlos Uresti said in a statement that the indictments against him are 'groundless,' News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.
Uresti was indicted by a federal grand jury in San Antonio late Tuesday in two separate cases. In one case, Uresti is charged with working with two business partners, Stanley Bates of Four Winds Logistics, and Gary Cain, a partner in the firm. to set up a 'Ponzi scheme' to defraud investors in a scheme to market fracking sand to the then fast growing oil fields of the Eagle Ford shale.
Specifically, the indictment claims that Uresti convinced a woman who received a settlement in a legal action to invest nearly a million dollars in Four Winds, and Uresti received a portion of the investment as 'escrow fees.
'Participating in such a deal would require Uresti to register as a broker with the Securities and Exchange Commission, and to disclose to the investor that he was receiving commissions and payments. The indictment claims Uresti was not registered with the SEC.
Ironically, this is very similar to the criminal charges facing Republican Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Mark Jones, a political analyst at Rice University, points out that Democrats were planning to tout Paxton's legal problems as part of their 2018 political effort to seize power, claiming that the GOP is uniquely corrupt, and he says this indictment will sink that claim.
"Its increasingly tough for Democrats to attack Republicans on ethics or 'crony capitalism,' when three of their istting Legislators have either been indicted or convicted of felony charges," Jones said.
He was referring to Uresti, State Rep. Ron Reynolds (D-Missouri City) who was convicted on five counts of illegal solicitation of legal clients, and State Rep Dawanna Dukes (D-Austin) who was indicted earlier this year on charges of tampering with an official document in connection with allegedly phony travel vouchers.
Uresti, who makes his first appearance in court today, says he will plead not guilty, and "immediately return to work representing District 19."
Jones says that may be easier said than done.
"Both the eleven charges related to the Ponzi scheme, and the bribery charge, because that charge, if it sticks, will likely involve some level of prison time," he said.
In the second case, Uresti is charged with bribing officials in Reeves County, in west Texas, to obtain a medical services contract at a prison on behalf of a Lubbock businessman.
PHOTO: TEXAS SENATE