A Texas businessman at the center of the scandal that led to the historic impeachment of state Attorney General Ken Paxton has been charged with eight counts of making false statements to mortgage lenders to obtain $172 million in loans. The indictment of real estate developer Nate Paul on Friday is the result of a yearslong FBI investigation that Paxton became entangled in three years ago. That move set off events that led to a separate federal probe of the Republican attorney general and to the GOP-led state House of Representatives’ overwhelming vote last month to impeach him. Paul and Paxton have denied wrongdoing.