Ken Paxton Partied in Dubai With Two Federal Fugitives on New Year’s Eve, Wall Street Journal Reports
The Wall Street Journal reviewed video of Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton ringing in 2025 from a Dubai high-rise balcony alongside two Americans later indicted on federal health-care fraud charges, weeks before President Trump endorsed Paxton's Senate bid.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton celebrated New Year’s Eve 2024 in Dubai with two Americans who were fugitives from U.S. justice at the time and a woman who was not his wife, according to a Wall Street Journal report that cited video of the gathering.
The Journal said it viewed video showing Paxton and his girlfriend, Tracy Duhon, watching fireworks over the Burj Khalifa to welcome 2025 from a luxury high-rise balcony full of people. Details of the party were also described in court filings and were confirmed by people familiar with the matter, the paper reported.
The two Americans, Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, had been indicted months earlier on federal health-care fraud charges and had failed to return to the United States, according to the report. Ahmed, a health-care executive, had donated $190,000 to Paxton, campaign-finance records show, including $25,000 given days after he was indicted.
A midterm gamble for Trump
As President Trump weighed endorsing Paxton over incumbent Sen. John Cornyn this spring, he was told that damaging revelations were likely to surface about Paxton, according to people familiar with the conversations. Trump was dismissive and endorsed Paxton anyway, helping him win the Republican-primary runoff in May.
Paxton now faces Democrat James Talarico in the Nov. 3 general election. Despite Paxton’s efforts to paint his opponent as a far-left candidate, Talarico has held a narrow lead in polls, raising the possibility of a Democrat winning statewide office in Texas for the first time since 1994.
In a statement, Paxton senior adviser Nick Maddux did not directly address the Dubai trip. He said Paxton has been “politically persecuted for years” and that voters keep sending him back to office because “he has always fought for Texas.”
Fraud charges and a not-guilty plea
The two men at the Dubai party were indicted in federal court in Illinois in 2024 on charges that they embezzled $15 million from a Chicago hospital where Ahmed was chief financial officer, the Journal reported. Ahmed was later charged in a much larger scheme involving at least $195 million in alleged payments from the government for fraudulent Covid-19 tests. He has pleaded not guilty.
Both men are now back in the United States to face the charges. Ahmed is in custody. His attorneys have said in court filings that he was abroad at the time of the first indictment and that his return was delayed by family health issues.
Paxton, 63, is a three-term attorney general. In 2023, members of his own party impeached him on abuse-of-office charges; he was acquitted by the state Senate and returned to office. Last year, his wife of 38 years filed for divorce, citing adultery.
Reporting based on coverage by the Wall Street Journal.
