A Texas businessman funneled $250,000 to a super PAC backing embattled Attorney General Ken Paxton's Senate campaign under a fake name, according to a new Politico report.
Last year, the pro-Paxton super PAC received the six-figure donation from a man calling himself "Paul McLaren," described in campaign finance records as an "entrepreneur" living in Plano, Texas. But no "Paul McLaren" actually lives in Plano, and the address on file traces back to a rented mailbox inside a strip mall.
The real donor is Ben Pogue, a Texas businessman whose father, construction executive Paul Pogue, pleaded guilty in 2010 to filing a false tax return after underreporting his income by nearly $1.7 million — and who received a pardon from President Donald Trump in 2020, Politico reported.
Pogue said he and his wife made the donation and insisted the fake name wasn't "an effort to conceal the source of the donation," explaining he chose "Paul McLaren" because his middle name is Paul and he once owned a McLaren sports car, calling it part of an "inside joke."
He did not explain the rented mailbox.
Pressed on the donation, a spokesperson for Lone Star Liberty PAC admitted the filing should have listed the donor as the "Paul McLaren Revocable Trust" and would be corrected.
According to the Politico investigation, Paul Pogue, "... avoided prison time and ended up getting three years of probation. Trump pardoned him in 2020, with the White House saying he had pleaded guilty to protect the 150 employees of his company and that for more than 30 years he had given 'significant humanitarian aid to countries around the world.' The White House at the time said that Paxton, among others, had supported the pardon."
