Texas Democratic Senate candidate James Talarico is benefiting from millions of dollars in political spending funded by LinkedIn cofounder Reid Hoffman, a former associate of convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, even as Talarico makes attacks on Republican opponent Ken Paxton’s handling of a child sex abuse case a central part of his campaign.

According to Federal Election Commission filings, Hoffman contributed $10 million to Lone Star Rising PAC in June, bringing his reported support for a super PAC backing Talarico to at least $11.5 million. The outside group spent nearly $4.5 million opposing Rep. Jasmine Crockett during the Democratic primary before turning its attention toward Paxton, the Republican Texas attorney general running for the Senate.

The financial connection presents a political challenge for Talarico, who has made criticism of wealthy and powerful figures associated with Epstein part of his campaign messaging while benefiting from a super PAC funded heavily by a billionaire whose relationship with Epstein has drawn scrutiny.

“The Epstein Class has no place in Texas,” Talarico has said.

Talarico has also criticized Paxton over a plea agreement involving Waco attorney Adam Dean Hoffman, who initially faced felony charges related to the sexual abuse of a young child. The case ended in a mistrial, and after the alleged victim declined to testify again, Hoffman reached a deal allowing him to plead guilty to misdemeanor indecent assault and displaying harmful material to a minor. He received a 60-day sentence, was released after 29 days and was not required to register as a sex offender.

Talarico has called the agreement an “Epstein-style sweetheart deal” and demanded that Paxton’s office release records related to the case, adopting language similar to calls for the federal government to release documents connected to Epstein.

Meanwhile, Hoffman’s own history with Epstein has been documented in emails released by the Department of Justice. The records show that the LinkedIn cofounder maintained contact with Epstein years after Epstein’s 2008 guilty plea for soliciting a minor for prostitution.

In a September 2014 email, Hoffman wrote that “Jeffrey has exquisite taste in people (myself excepted).” In a separate Christmas Eve email that year, Hoffman told Epstein he had mailed gifts that included a surfer statue for Epstein’s private Caribbean island and ice cream described as being “either for yourself or for ‘the girls.’”

A representative for Hoffman later said the reference to “the girls” meant adult members of Epstein’s internal team who used that phrase to describe themselves.

Epstein also claimed in an August 2015 email to have attended a “wild” dinner with Hoffman and other prominent technology figures, including Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk and Peter Thiel. The provided records do not independently establish what occurred at the dinner.

Hoffman has said his interactions with Epstein were connected to fundraising for the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In a February statement, he said Epstein’s victims deserved the information they were seeking and called on President Donald Trump to release the relevant records.

The controversy places Talarico’s anti-corruption message under scrutiny as the Democrat seeks to unseat Paxton in a race drawing national attention and substantial outside spending.

Talarico’s campaign said it has no control over contributions to super PACs, which are legally prohibited from coordinating their spending with candidates’ campaigns.

Ennis argued that Paxton was the candidate beholden to wealthy donors and special interests, saying Talarico supports banning super PACs and corporate PACs, prohibiting congressional stock trading and taxing billionaires.

The latest figures put Hoffman’s contribution to Lone Star Rising PAC at $10 million, with the group spending millions to influence the Senate contest. Talarico’s campaign continues to argue that its agenda is aimed at reducing the influence of wealthy donors, even as outside spending from major contributors helps support his bid for the Senate.