The Republican Texas Senate candidate Ken Paxton celebrated New Year's Eve in the United Arab Emirates with two Americans who had left the country after being indicted on federal charges, The Wall Street Journal reported.
The publication said that footage it had obtained showed Paxton welcoming in 2025 from a high-rise balcony in Dubai with Anosh Ahmed and Sameer Suhail. A federal court in Illinois indicted Ahmed and Suhail in 2024 on charges of embezzling $15 million from a Chicago hospital where Ahmed was chief financial officer.
Ahmed and Suhail are back in the United States to face the charges, which they have denied. Their attorneys said they had returned voluntarily, according to the Journal.
Newsweek reached out to Ahmed and Suhail's attorneys and the Paxton campaign via email for comment.
Paxton, who has been endorsed by President Donald Trump, served three terms as Texas attorney general, and his tenure has drawn controversy. His rival for the Senate seat in the November midterms, Democratic state Representative James Talarico, has criticized Paxton for his travels, business ties, and wealth accumulated in office.
The latest footage could complicate the Texan’s Senate election campaign.
What Does the Video Show?
The 37-second clip shows Paxton, his girlfriend Tracy Duhon, Ahmed, and Suhail watching fireworks light up the Dubai skyline.
"In Dubai, Paxton and his girlfriend watched fireworks at a party with two fugitives who had failed to return to the U.S. to face federal healthcare fraud charges. One of them, Anosh Ahmed, had donated $190,000 to Paxton," Wall Street Journal reporter Elizabeth Findall wrote on X.
The paper said that details of the video were contained in court filings and were confirmed by people familiar with the matter.
What Are Ahmed and Suhail Accused Of?
Ahmed is a physician from Houston and former chief financial and operating officer of Loretto Hospital on Chicago's West Side. Suhail, Ahmed's neighbor and business partner, ran private companies that received millions from the hospital, according to Block Club Chicago, which has investigated the pair's conduct.
Prosecutors have said the two worked together to embezzle $15 million from the taxpayer-funded hospital and received a separate $19 million worth of hospital contracts to Suhail through "corrupt" means, including bribery.
Heather Bergdahl, Loretto's former chief transformation officer, and former hospital CEO George Miller are also charged.
Prosecutors said Ahmed worked with Bergdahl and Suhail to send vendor payments for goods and services the hospital never received. The indictment said Suhail and Ahmed created companies under different names to conceal their links, then fraudulently obtained payments from the hospital.
Prosecutors also said Miller accepted more than $769,000 for sending contracts worth millions to companies Suhail runs.
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Ahmed has donated $190,000 to Paxton, according to campaign-finance records cited by the Journal, including $25,000 days after he was indicted.
On July 12, 2024, the Department of Justice said that Ahmed had been charged with eight counts of wire fraud, four counts of embezzlement, eleven counts of aiding and abetting embezzlement, and three counts of money laundering. The statement said that Suhail was charged with six counts of wire fraud, six counts of aiding and abetting embezzlement, and two counts of money laundering.
Ahmed has also been charged in a scheme involving at least $195 million in alleged payments from the government for fraudulent COVID-19 tests, to which he has pleaded not guilty.
Block Club Chicago reported that Ahmed and Suhail left the U.S. before the charges were brought.
U.S. Attorney Andrew Boutros' office said that Ahmed was arrested on November 30, 2025, in Serbia following a global alert seeking his arrest known as a "Red Notice."
Suhail had moved to Dubai, where he opened a plastic surgery clinic in the high-end Jumeirah neighborhood. His attorney, Adam Sheppard, said his client returned to the U.S. voluntarily after civil matters in Dubai that affected his ability to travel following the indictment were resolved, according to the Journal.
Ahmed’s attorneys have said in court filings that he was abroad when he got his first indictment and his return to the U.S. was delayed by family health issues, the outlet reported.
Ahmed pleaded not guilty on August 28 to charges relating to the alleged $15 million Loretto Hospital embezzlement scheme, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. On August 31, he pleaded not guilty in the separate federal COVID-testing fraud case.
On April 22, Suhail pleaded not guilty to the charges against him in the Loretto Hospital case and was released on a $5 million bond with home confinement, CBS News reported.
Contact Newsweek editors on this story: John Fitzpatrick and Sam Wilson.