Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton’s financial holdings include a cellular tower company that has contributed substantially to his income, according to his federal disclosure forms and property records. The discovery comes amid a tightly contested U.S. Senate race in Texas, where his Democratic challenger has raised questions about how Paxton has amassed a multimillion-dollar real estate portfolio while earning a public servant salary.
Paxton co-founded Premier Vertical Properties in 2005, a cellular tower company that operates at least one tower erected approximately two decades ago on the grounds of a hospital north of Dallas. At the time, Paxton served on the board of Centennial Medical Center, the hospital located in Frisco, from 2003 to 2013. Leases for space on the tower have been signed with major wireless providers, including T-Mobile, Verizon, and DISH Wireless. These agreements list the hospital’s parent company at the time, Tenet Hospitals, as the landowner. However, details surrounding any financial arrangement between Premier and the hospital remain unclear. Representatives for Tenet Hospitals did not respond to requests for comment, and the current hospital administration said it could not provide information regarding agreements negotiated prior to its tenure.
Industry experts noted that leasing hospital land for cell towers generally requires approval by the hospital’s board of directors, but it is not publicly known if Paxton participated in discussions or votes concerning the lease with Premier. Nick Maddux, Paxton’s campaign spokesperson, dismissed inquiries into the tower lease as an attempt to manufacture controversy tied to decades-old paperwork that Paxton has disclosed for years.
Records show that Premier Vertical Properties quickly secured a 10-year lease with T-Mobile less than a year after its founding. While Paxton’s signature does not appear on the lease agreements, the site is designated as “Paxton MP” on T-Mobile documents. Richard Sine, a telecom industry professional and Paxton’s co-founder in Premier, signed all three leases but did not respond to requests for comment.
Financial disclosures reveal that Paxton has earned between $100,000 and $1 million every 18 months from the cellular tower business. His 2023 federal candidacy filings list income from Premier and estimate the tower’s worth between $250,000 and $500,000. Ethics experts expressed skepticism about the asset valuation, with one consultant suggesting that income at the low end would typically imply a tower value closer to $2 million. Paxton reported assets worth less than $5,000 in Premier in 2006; by 2023, state ethics filings listed assets exceeding $55,000 but did not disclose profits.
Paxton’s financial affairs have long drawn scrutiny. Over his decade as Texas attorney general, he has faced investigations, including a bribery probe over a $100,000 gift, a grand jury inquiry into a land deal, and a felony securities fraud charge filed in 2015, all of which concluded without convictions or admissions of wrongdoing. He was impeached by the Texas House in 2023 on corruption charges, including allegations of accepting bribes, but was acquitted by the Texas Senate. Throughout the impeachment proceedings, his expanding real estate portfolio—now reported to include multiple condominiums—came under examination.
Paxton’s base salary as attorney general is $153,750. While some of his total wealth remains obscured due to trust arrangements, analysts indicate that the cellular tower remains one of his more substantial assets. The full extent of Paxton’s business dealings and their intersection with his public service tenure continue to be topics of public interest and political debate.