The Office of the Attorney General (“OAG”) reached a $5 billion multistate settlement with CVS for the company’s role in the national opioid epidemic, including inadequately monitoring opioid prescriptions. Over $300 million is designated for Texas. The agreement with CVS is one of numerous multi-billion-dollar settlements resulting from litigation by state attorneys general against the pharmaceutical industry for practices that escalated a nationwide crisis of fatal abuse of addictive prescription narcotics. The settlement with CVS […]
Attorney General
Office of the Attorney General Provides Update on the Two-Year Anniversary of the Disappearance of Jason Landry
This week marks the second anniversary of Jason Landry’s disappearance. Attorney General Paxton and the entire Office of the Attorney General (OAG) want to reaffirm their commitment to this active and ongoing investigation and assure the public that this case remains a top priority with the following information: In February 2022, the Caldwell County District Attorney’s Office and the Caldwell County Sheriff’s Office requested that the OAG Cold Case and Missing Persons Unit investigate the disappearance of Jason […]
Paxton’s Criminal Prosecutions Division Secures Guilty Verdict Against Man Who Sexually Assaulted a Child
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Criminal Prosecutions Division trial team secured a guilty plea against a man who committed sexual assault of a child. The defendant, Troy Lee Smith, pleaded guilty to one count of sexual assault of a child and one count of indecency with a child, and he was sentenced to eight years in prison. Smith had been a martial arts instructor at Master Smith’s Martial Arts Academy in Woodville, Texas. In 2011, Smith […]
Paxton Protects Education: Multistate Letter Succeeds in Pressuring Biden Department of Education to Let Charter Schools Flourish
The Biden Administration recently acceded to criticism from Attorney General Ken Paxton and other attorneys general regarding a new regulatory proposal restricting public charter school grants. In a recent Oklahoma-led letter to the U.S. Department of Education (DOE), several states argued that two proposed changes to a federal charter school program would decrease the educational opportunities for students in areas with underperforming schools. Under a proposed community impact analysis requirement, an applicant trying to open […]
Paxton Joins Letter Urging Senate to Reject Biden Nominee for ATF Head
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a multistate letter urging the United States Senate to oppose President Biden’s nominee for Director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF), Steven Dettelbach. Dettelbach has a long history of anti-Second Amendment activism. This is Biden’s second anti-gun nominee to the post, a clear indication that the Administration is devoted to stripping Americans of their God-given rights protected under the U.S. Constitution’s Second Amendment. “As Americans […]
AG Paxton Joins Coalition to Open Offshore Oil and Gas Leases, Fight Against Rising Energy Prices
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a multistate amicus brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit, urging reversal of a lower court’s decision to vacate the largest offshore oil and gas lease sale in U.S. history. The brief argues that the lower court judge erred in shutting down the lease sale and worsening the tremendous damage being done by the Administration’s misguided war on American energy. “America is in the midst […]
AG Paxton Recovers $12.9 Million for the State of Texas Against Pharma Company for its Fraudulent Reporting
Attorney General Ken Paxton resolved an enforcement action against pharmaceutical manufacturer Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories (DRL) for reporting inflated drug prices to the Texas Medicaid program. DRL will pay $12.9 million to settle the claims against it. This settlement is the latest recovery in price-reporting cases that the Attorney General has brought under the Texas Medicaid Fraud Prevention Act (TMFPA) since 2002. In cases against drug manufacturers for similar misconduct, the OAG has recovered more than […]
Leon County Jury Delivers Guilty Verdict in Capital Murder Case
Attorney General Ken Paxton’s Criminal Prosecutions Division was responsible for securing a guilty verdict in State of Texas vs. Hollis Willingham for capital murder from a Leon County Jury in the 369th District Court. Willingham was arrested and convicted of the 2007 murder of Jim Craig Martin. The investigation of this case involved multiple agencies and lasted over ten years. Martin’s body was never located. The Office of the Attorney General is assisting the Leon County District Attorney.
Paxton Fights to Protect Pro-Life Laws Threatened by Expired Equal Rights Amendment
Attorney General Ken Paxton joined a multi-state amicus brief opposing efforts to obtain a judicial ratification of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) of 1972. The main goals of the ERA were to allow equal opportunities for women. Since 1972, great progress has been made through application of the Equal Protection Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment, Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, Title IX, the Equal Pay Act of 1963, and many other […]
Paxton Defends SB8, Saving Thousands of Lives in the Process
Attorney General Ken Paxton has fought off multiple challenges to Texas Senate Bill 8 (SB8), which has saved approximately 17,000 newborn lives since it went into effect on September 1, 2021. Abortions fell by 60 percent in Texas the first month after SB8 took effect. Abortion providers asked both the U.S. Supreme Court and the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals to expedite their attack on the law by sending the case to a lower court, […]