Carlos Uresti

On February 16, 2017, FBI and IRS agents raided Uresti's law offices in connection with the investigation into FourWinds, a fraudulent fracking business. Uresti released a statement shortly after stating that he would fully cooperate with agents during their investigation.[14][15]

Targeted in the raid was Uresti's consulting company, Turning Point Strategies; the FBI was investigating "investors or contributors" in the company, which collected Uresti's commissions for handling a former client's $900,000 investment with FourWinds. The client, Denise Cantu (born 1980) of Harlingen, lost much of the money that she obtained from a case involving the wrongful death of two of her children. Uresti subsequently acquired a $25,000 loan from Cantu and borrowed $75,000 from three other individuals, including one of his senate staff members.[16]

Cantu separately filed a civil suit against Uresti, alleging fraud after she invested heavily in the failed FourWinds Logistics. Cantu claims that Uresti "tricked" her with the investment and did not disclose that he received a $27,000 commission from FourWinds for successfully soliciting her business. Cantu claims that FourWinds divided her money among the company officers and did not purchase fracking sand as they had promised. Uresti denied any wrongdoing and asked that the suit be delayed until after the legislature adjourned at the end of May.[17]

On May 16, 2017, Uresti was indicted on two separate indictments by a federal grand jury in the United States District Court for the Western District of Texas for conspiracy to commit wire fraud and conspiracy to commit money laundering. The other indictment lists conspiracy to commit bribery and conspiracy to commit money laundering.[18] Uresti is alleged to have taken money from Physicians Network Associates (PNA), which had a contract for medical services as the Reeves County Detention Center, a scheme which continued through PNA's successor companies. The indictment claims acting Reeves County administrator, Judge Jimmy Galindo, conspired to approve the medical contract through the county commissioners court in exchange for kickbacks and "promises of future payments." PNA hired Uresti, ostensibly as a "consultant" for "marketing services." The prosecution claims that in fact Uresti became the middleman for bribe money destined for Galindo. PNA was subsequently absorbed by Correctional Healthcare Companies in 2010, which then merged with another provider, Correct Care Solutions, in 2014. PNA and its successor corporations continued to pay Uresti $10,000 monthly, starting in September 2006 for the next 10 years. Uresti is alleged to have pocketed about half of those bribes, giving Galindo the balance.[19]

On May 20, 2017, the San Antonio Express-News called on Uresti to resign.[20]

In a court filing, the federal prosecutors assert that because of overwhelming personal financial woes, Uresti carried out a "Ponzi scheme" that defrauded Cantu (cited as Victim 1).[21]

U.S. Magistrate Judge Henry Joseph Bemporad ruled on June 30 that Uresti's attorney, Mikal Watts, has a conflict of interest in the case, but did not immediately remove Watts from representing Uresti. Bemporad said that the case against Uresti is tied to the wrongful death case that Watts' legal firm conducted on behalf of Denise Cantu.[22]

Uresti's federal jury trial on 11 charges, which included money laundering, wire fraud, and securities fraud, concluded with 11 guilty verdicts.[23] He then resigned from the Texas Senate.

In June 2018, Uresti was sentenced to 12 years in prison, to be followed by three years of supervised release. He was ordered to pay restitution to his victims in the amount of $6.3 million.[5]

In December 2017, The Daily Beast published an article containing numerous sexual-harassment allegations against Uresti.[24] After the publication of the article, Democratic State Senator Sylvia Garcia called for an investigation into the allegations.[25] The reports mostly were attributed to anonymous sources. Annie's List, an organization that advocates for the election of Democratic women in Texas, has urged Uresti to resign following reports of sexual misconduct. The Daily Beast claimed that an unidentified female staffer was reportedly sitting on Uresti's lap on the first day of the 2013 session.

Uresti claimed she was his wife and produced a picture of the couple sitting together at the event.[26]

Uresti has advocated for increased state investment in transportation infrastructure. He was a vocal critic of the TxDOT plan to replace heavily trafficked county roads with gravel.[27]

Uresti has been a proponent of reform within the Child Protective Services (CPS), saying it needs to be better funded and needs reformed management practices, lower caseloads per worker, and higher salaries.[28] He has pushed for more resources to be put towards abuse prevention.[29]

During the 84th Legislative Session, Uresti pushed for increased funding for CPS to hire more caseworkers to reduce workloads. In a 2016 interim hearing, Senator Uresti advocated for better pay for CPS caseworkers, to decrease turnover and training costs.[30]

Uresti was a proponent of Proposition 6, which provided $2 billion from the Rainy Day Fund to the State Water Plan, allowing low-interest loans for more than 560 water-supply projects, saying that Texas needed to "take a progressive and forward-looking approach to our long-term water needs."[31]

Two elections were held on November 7, 2006, due to Senator Frank Madla's resignation following his loss in the primary. Senator Uresti was sworn into the senate in November rather than January because of his victory in the special election.