EPIC says state officials were determined to prosecute it regardless of the evidence
East Plano Islamic CenterPlano mosque named as a defendant in the lawsuit, in a statement reported by Context Corner
Responding to Texas Monthly's report, the East Plano Islamic Center accuses Texas officials of state-sponsored Islamophobia and says they were determined to prosecute it whatever the evidence showed.
“determined to find a way to prosecute EPIC regardless of what the evidence showed.”
Reporting
Where this statement fits
Paxton sued EPIC City developers for securities fraud after the state securities board concluded the units were not securities
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued the developers of the EPIC City housing project near Plano for securities fraud in December 2025. The Texas State Securities Board says its staff had concluded the project's land units were not securities and told Paxton's office so before he filed. A Texas Monthly report says advisers to Gov. Greg Abbott pressed the agency to refer the case.
Source and context
Reporting
About this source
Context Corner reports the East Plano Islamic Center's October 13 statement responding to Texas Monthly's investigation and quotes part of it.
Archived copy (opens in a new tab)Before the quotation
EPIC released the statement on October 13 in response to Texas Monthly's investigation. Context Corner reports that EPIC accused Abbott, Paxton and other Texas officials of "state-sponsored Islamophobia" and said the reporting showed a deliberate effort to use state agencies against the mosque.
After the quotation
EPIC also pointed to state action involving its funeral operations and called the combined actions "an attack on religious freedom and equal treatment under law" in its statement.
How this statement is classified
The label describes this statement's response within the context above.
Why this label?
The reference point is the Texas government's pursuit of a securities fraud case against the EPIC City developers. EPIC says officials were "determined to find a way to prosecute EPIC regardless of what the evidence showed" and calls the state's actions state-sponsored Islamophobia, so we labeled it Condemned. The closest competing label is Challenged characterization; it loses because EPIC attacks the motives and conduct behind the case rather than only disputing the securities theory.
- Recorded on
- Published here
- People and groups discussed
- Greg Abbott, Ken Paxton
More from this case
Read the full caseYasir Qadhi says Paxton sued EPIC after the state's securities regulator found no violation
“In March of last year, Abbott’s office drew up a secret memo listing every law the state could use against EPIC. However, the state’s own securities regulator reviewed 100,000 pages and found no securities violation. Paxton sued us anyway, and when that regulator publicly called Paxton’s claim “a wholly false statement,” he was pushed out of his job.”Read statement
CAIR-Texas says Paxton allegedly strong-armed an agency into targeting a Muslim community
Council on American-Islamic Relations
“Instead of serving all Texans, Mr. Paxton allegedly even strong-armed a governmental agency into targeting a Texas Muslim community, even after the agency concluded there was no basis for the line of attack Paxton wanted to pursue.”Read statement
Olmsted condemns the EPIC City case as a campaign against Muslims
“concocted a securities fraud case as part of a sweeping crusade to target the state’s growing Muslim community.”Read statement
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The Dispute Index. "EPIC says state officials were determined to prosecute it regardless of the evidence". First published: 2026-11-10. Last updated: 2026-11-10. https://disputeindex.com/events/8546-responding-to-texas-monthly-s-report-the-east