As Republican Ken Paxton fights to become Texas’ next US senator, a consistent thread runs through his career: he rarely takes questions under oath. And in at least two cases where he couldn’t avoid it entirely, a friendly judge and her husband—both financial donors to the Paxtons’ campaigns—have sealed those records from public view.
Case in point: James Talarico’s US Senate campaign filed a petition Wednesday asking a Collin County court to unseal transcripts of two depositions Paxton gave in 2019 and 2022, as part of a years-long securities fraud dispute involving his financial advisor and former business associates. The case traces back to Unity Resources, an energy company where Paxton had previously served as a lawyer, board member, and investor—a role that later forced him to give rare, sworn depositions regarding the company’s mineral deals.
Getting Paxton to sit for those depositions took years. According to the Denton Record-Chronicle, Paxton tried to quash the subpoenas compelling his testimony, at one point claiming he’d be traveling in Europe when a deposition was scheduled.
Years later, both Unity depositions remain sealed. A Wall Street Journal investigation earlier this year based on the 2019 transcript reported that in nearly 90 instances, Paxton said he didn’t remember the answer to a question, including basic biographical details listed on his website. He also potentially admitted to violating attorney-client privilege, by giving privileged Unity records to Mitch Little, his personal lawyer. The contents of the 2022 deposition have never been reported at all.
That’s because of the judge who oversaw the case: Republican Cynthia Wheless. Rather than ruling on whether to seal the depositions when they were taken, Wheless let the matter sit for more than four years, until after the underlying lawsuit was settled in 2023, and then sealed it from public view.
Wheless’ connections to Paxton extends beyond the bench. Campaign finance records show she and her husband, Ray Wheless—the regional administrative judge for North Texas—have, as previously reported by The Texas Newsroom, donated $1,825 to Ken and Angela Paxton’s campaigns since 2014, including a $1,000 contribution from Cynthia Wheless to Angela Paxton in 2018, while the Unity case was still pending before her.
Campaign finance filings also indicate attorneys at Mitch Little’s law firm—Little being both Paxton’s longtime personal lawyer and the attorney representing Paxton’s financial advisor in the Unity case—donated $3,250 to Wheless’ campaign during the same period, including $500 from Little himself.
Cynthia Wheless is up for reelection this year.
Her family’s ties to the Paxtons don’t stop there. When Angela Paxton filed for divorce from Ken Paxton last year, it was Ray Wheless who was brought in after the original judge recused herself, and who promptly ordered the divorce records sealed from public view.
Talarico’s campaign lawyers argue the public has a right to see the Unity depositions before the November election, citing a state law that allows access to sealed discovery materials with “a probable adverse effect” on the administration of public office.
