On October 5, 2020, The Washington Post reported that Jeffrey Mateer, Paxton's first assistant, resigned. He and six other aides submitted a letter to Human Resources Director Greg Simpson alleging that Paxton had been, "violating federal and/or state law, including prohibitions relating to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery, and other potential criminal offenses." According to the Houston Chronicle, the aides accused Paxton of launching an investigation into the FBI and U.S. Department of Treasury agents who raided the home and business office of Nate Paul in 2019. Paul donated to Paxton's 2018 campaign. In a statement obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, Paxton's office said, "The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office...Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law." As reported by the Houston Chronicle on October 13, 2020, Mark Penley was put on leave (The Texas Tribune reported on November 2, 2020, that he was fired). The Houston Chronicle also reported on October 22, 2020, that Paxton's office fired two top aides, Blake Brickman and Lacey Mase. Penley, Brickman, and Mase were three of the seven aides to make accusations against Paxton. According to The Texas TribuneOn October 25, 2020, Ryan Vassar was put on leave and Darren McCarty submitted his resignation, effective the first week of November 2020. Both were top aides who had made accusations against Paxton. Neither Vassar, McCarty, nor the Attorney General's Office have released statements as of October 27, 2020. Ryan Bangert, the seventh aide to accuse Paxton, resigned on October 28, 2020. As reported by The Marshall News MessengerOn November 17, 2020, the Attorney General's Office fired Ryan Vassar.

On October 5, 2020, The Washington Post reported that seven of Paxton's top aides resigned and submitted a letter to Human Resources Director Greg Simpson alleging that Paxton has been, "violating federal and/or state law, including prohibitions relating to improper influence, abuse of office, bribery, and other potential criminal offenses." In a statement obtained by the Austin American-Statesman, Paxton's office said, "The complaint filed against Attorney General Paxton was done to impede an ongoing investigation into criminal wrongdoing by public officials including employees of this office...Making false claims is a very serious matter and we plan to investigate this to the fullest extent of the law."

State charges A grand jury indicted Paxton for felony securities fraud on July 31, 2015. The charges included two counts of first-degree securities fraud in connection with the sale of more than $100,000 or more of Servergy Inc. stock to two investors, along with a lesser charge of not registering. Paxton turned himself in on August 3, 2015, and was booked and released. Paxton said the charges against him were politically motivated and appealed the judge's ruling. At his first court appearance on the three securities fraud charges on August 27, 2015, Paxton formally pleaded not guilty. After Paxton entered his plea, District Judge George Gallagher granted a motion that Paxton's attorney, Joe Kendall, made to withdraw from the case. On September 10, 2015, Paxton announced he had hired new legal counsel. Paxton's defense team moved to have the charges dismissed on December 1, 2015. Prosecutors sought to amend the indictments. Judge Chris Oldner said he would issue written rulings on those motions. In July 2016, a state appeals court denied Paxton's motion to reconsider a previous ruling that upheld criminal charges against him. In August 2016, Paxton appealed to the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals, the state's court of last resort for all criminal matters in the state. Following a prosecutor's motion, Judge Gallagher ordered the case moved to Harris County Court on April 12, 2017, setting a tentative trial date for September 12, 2017. In turn, Paxton issued legal challenges seeking Judge Gallagher's removal from the case. The 5th Court of Appeals ruled on May 30, 2017, that in moving the case to Harris County, Judge Gallagher had also lost his authority to try the case since it was out of his jurisdiction. Although the court ordered Judge Gallagher to cancel all upcoming proceedings, including the September 12 trial, it did not directly remove him from the case. As a result of the ruling, Judge Gallagher ordered the transfer of the case to Harris County on June 9, 2017. On June 13, 2017, Judge Robert Johnson was randomly selected to preside over the case. An initial trial on one of the three charges was scheduled for December 11, 2017, but was later delayed indefinitely. On October 4, 2017, Judge Johnson agreed to further delay the trial at the prosecutors' request, citing disruptions that Hurricane Harvey caused and the unresolved dispute over the prosecutors' pay. Paxton's trial remained delayed through 2018 and 2019. In July 2019, Paxton's attorneys requested to move the case back to Collin County from Harris County. On June 25, Judge Robert Johnson granted the request, ruling that the trial would take place in Collin County. On May 27, 2021, a three-judge panel of the Texas First District Court of Appeals voted 2-1 to uphold Johnson's order, setting the stage for Paxton's trial to take place in Collin County. Federal securities charges dismissed The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filed civil securities fraud charges against Paxton in April 2016 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. A U.S. district court judge dismissed these charges in March 2017. The March 2017 permanent dismissal of the charges followed from a conditional dismissal of the charges in October 2016. Judge Amos Mazzant issued his conditional dismissal on Friday, October 7. Mazzant gave SEC prosecutors 14 days to amend their allegations. On October 21, the SEC filed an amended complaint. The SEC alleged Paxton misled five investors in Servergy Inc. by not disclosing to them that he received compensation from sales in the form of shares of company stock. Paxton told the SEC that the shares were meant as a gift from the company's founder rather than as compensation. In his 29-page ruling conditionally dismissing the SEC's charges, federal Judge Amos Mazzant wrote, "This case is not about whether Paxton had a moral obligation to disclose his financial arrangement with Servergy to potential investors. This case is also not about whether Paxton had some general obligation to disclose his financial arrangement to his investor group. The only issue before the Court is to determine whether the facts as pleaded give rise to a plausible claim under federal securities laws." In Mazzant's final dismissal of the case in March 2017, he wrote, "This case has not changed since the Court conditionally dismissed the Commission’s Original Complaint. The primary deficiency was, and remains, that Paxton had no plausible legal duty to disclose his compensation arrangement with investors." After the federal court dismissed the SEC charges, Paxton said, "I have maintained all along this whole saga is a political witch hunt. Today’s ruling to dismiss the charges with prejudice confirms that these charges were baseless when the SEC initially brought them and they were without merit when the SEC re-filed them. Someone needs to hold the SEC accountable for this travesty."