Ken Paxton ringed in the new year at a luxury high rise in Dubai. Fugitives accused of stealing $15m from a Chicago hospital were also allegedly there

Ken Paxton, the Texas attorney general and Republican candidate for U.S. Senate, was in Dubai for New Year’s Eve, according to a report published Monday by The Wall Street Journal. The gathering took place on December 31, 2024, and included his extramarital girlfriend, Tracy Duhon. Two other Americans were also said to be there.

Those two men were Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail, according to the court records and people familiar with the matter cited by WSJ. Months before the celebration, they had been indicted in a federal healthcare fraud case. Prosecutors accused them of taking $15 million from a Chicago hospital, where Ahmed had worked as chief financial officer. At the time of the Dubai event, neither man had come back to the United States to address the charges.

The party was held in a luxury high-rise that looked out over the Burj Khalifa. Footage reviewed by the Journal and previously shared on social media showed Paxton and Duhon watching the fireworks at midnight with other guests. The newspaper reported that both Ahmed and Suhail later returned to the United States to face the cases against them.

Donations from one of the men and the larger fraud case

Ahmed was also charged in a separate fraud matter. That case centered on at least $195 million in alleged government payments for fake Covid-19 tests. Records examined by the Journal showed Ahmed gave Paxton a total of $190,000 in campaign contributions. One of those gifts was reportedly a $25,000 donation that arrived just days after Ahmed’s indictment.

Paxton’s senior adviser, Nick Maddux, did not give a direct answer in the statement WSJ cited when asked about the Dubai gathering. He instead offered a defense of the candidate. “Like President [Donald] Trump, Ken Paxton has been politically persecuted for years, and every time, voters have seen through it and sent him back to office because they know he has always fought for Texas,” Maddux told the Journal. Maddux also previously defended a candidate caught on leaked audio discussing Trump’s convention by pointing to Trump.

Ahmed has entered a not-guilty plea on the additional charges and is still in custody. The Journal’s account tied the campaign donations to the same period when Ahmed was facing the federal cases and was present at the New Year’s celebration in Dubai. Suhail was apparently also listed among those who had not yet returned to the United States at the time.

The report arrives while Paxton is trying to hold off Democrat James Talarico in the Senate contest, where a secret recording exposed who runs his campaign. The Wall Street Journal based its description of the evening on the reviewed footage and on campaign finance filings.

Paxton’s marital situation has also drawn attention during the campaign. The paper did not include any further statement from Paxton’s team that addressed the specific guests or the location of the gathering.