Kent A. Schaffer

Kent Schaffer brings over 40 years of criminal law practice to his clients in Houston, throughout the state of Texas, and across the nation. Kent began his legal career as an investigator for the legendary criminal defense lawyer, Richard “Racehorse” Haynes. After spending three years as chief investigator, Kent began attending the University of Houston, Bates College of Law, graduating in 1981. He is licensed in Texas and the District of Columbia and has been admitted to practice before the United States Supreme Court, several United States Circuit Courts of Appeals, and all federal districts in the State of Texas.

Some of Kent’s honors and awards include Chambers & Partners, Tier 2 Ranking for Litigation: White Collar Crime & Government Investigations; Texas SuperLawyers (a Thomson Reuters Service, 2007 – present); Best Lawyers in America, by Woodward White, Inc., 2003 – Present; and Best Criminal Defense Lawyer in Houston (Houston Press, 1995). He is also AV Rated by Martindale Hubbell and is rated Superb, by Avvo.

Throughout the years, Kent has represented people from all walks of life, including noted individuals in noted cases. His clients have included: political and business figures such as former Houston Mayor Fred Hofheinz; U.S. Congressman Craig Washington; Robert Allen Stanford; Oscar Wyatt; Wendell Nielsen (President of the FLDS Church); Kevin Hannon (Enron); Yank Barry (Vitapro Company), James Prince (CEO and Founder of Rap A Lot Records) and Governor Humberto Moreira (Coahuila, Mexico). He has also handled a variety of legal and business matters for entertainers and athletes such as Farrah Fawcett, Armie Hammer, Tom Sizemore, Clifford Irving, and Chace Crawford; rappers such as Slim Thug, Scarface, Pimp C, Peso Peso, Lil Jairmy, and Travis Scott; and noted athletes such as Shakur Stevenson, Taurean Prince, Ken Caminiti , Carl Crawford, Alex Caruso, PJ Hall, Andre Ward, Jermall Charlo, Tony Norris, and Dante Hall.

In addition to the individuals that Kent has represented throughout the years, he has also represented and advised several major corporations in business and environmental matters, as well as in regulatory and investigatory matters. Among them are the McGraw Hill Companies, Martin Preferred Foods, Harmon and Reimer, Lone Star Concrete, Lucas Aerospace, Hanson North America, Pioneer Concrete, and the Coushatta Tribe of Louisiana.

Kent has been active in several bar associations throughout his career. He is a Past President of the Harris County Bar Association, Past President of the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, a 12-year member of the Board of Directors of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and is a member of the American Bar Association (Criminal Justice Section), the American Board of Criminal Lawyers, the Houston Bar Association, and a former member of the Federal Court Advisory Council for the U.S. District Court, Southern District of Texas. In 2011, he was appointed by the Harris County Commissioners Court to the Board of Directors of the Harris County Public Defender’s Office.

Kent is a frequent lecturer and has spoken on topics involving criminal law at law schools and bar associations throughout the country, including the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Texas Criminal Defense Lawyers Association, the State Bar of Texas, the Houston Bar Association, the Louisiana Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Harris County Criminal Lawyers Association, NORML, the Practicing Law Institute, and the Law Education Institute. Topics he has spoken on include, Representing Companies & Individuals in Parallel Investigations; White Collar Crime Prosecutions; Advanced Cross Examination Techniques; Pre-Trial Investigation; Handling the Government Informant; Making an Effective Opening and Closing Arguments That Work; When Criminal Law and Family Law Collide, Preparing to Cross Examine; and Picking Juries to Acquit.

2023: Secured a No-Bill from the Grand Jury for rapper, Travis Scott in connection with the Astroworld Festival concert wherein 10 concert goers were killed and several more injured. 

2022: Secured a No-Bill from the Grand Jury for a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves who was charged in a felony drug possession case.

2022: Secured a No-Bill for our client in a 15 year old “cold case” murder.

2022: Obtained a dismissal of all charges against our client, who is a nationally known boxing champion who was indicted for aggravated assault – family violence.

2022: Obtained dismissal of the indictment against our client who was charged in Federal Court with Conspiracy to Traffic in Counterfeit Goods and Trafficking in Counterfeit Goods. The client is alleged to have imported millions of dollars worth of counterfeit server and computer components from China.

2022: Obtained dismissal of three robbery charges in San Antonio, against our client who is the current middleweight boxing champion of the world.

2022: Obtained dismissal of all charges against our client who is a YouTube prankster and v-logger who has over 7 million subscribers. Our client had been charged with impersonating a security guard while shooting a prank video for his YouTube channel.

2021: Obtained a dismissal of all charges against a Los Angeles Laker’s basketball player who was charged in two drug related cases.

2021: Obtained a dismissal of all charges against an NFL player and former Houston Texan who was charged with assault and interfering with the duties of a public servant.

2021: Successfully represented a physician in a medical fraud/kickback case. After two years of negotiations and meetings with federal officials; the investigation was closed with no charges being brought against our client.

2021: Successfully represented a major record label in a multi-million dollar premises liability case involving two deaths. After close to a year in litigation, the case was non-suited against our client.

2020:  We won a dismissal with prejudice on the eve of a state-court jury involving claims against our client, a founding officer director of a major LNG company who had been sued by the nation’s largest LNG company for breach of contract, breach of a fiduciary duty and for collection on a $46 million dollar note which he had allegedly signed in his personal capacity. Our client and his new company paid nothing in a complete win, which Texas Lawbook named as a “Top 10 Commercial Litigation Moments of 2020.”

2020: Appeared as local counsel on behalf of a Luxembourg investment fund management company in a major federal action against BP America; et al. The allegations included fraud and violations of the Financial Services and Markets Act; in connection with the Deepwater Horizon spill. A confidential settlement was reached with the defendants, prior to trial.

2020: We successfully represented a State District Judge who had been indicted by the US Attorney’s office for wire fraud related to the personal expenditure of campaign funds. At sentencing, the court refused the government’s argument for incarceration and placed her on probation for a term of 3 years.

2020: Successfully represented a State District Judge in a lawsuit against the Harris County Democratic Party in their bid to keep him off of the ballot as he sought re-election. The Party had alleged that he had failed to timely file his application to run; however the Court entered an injunction against the party, to keep them from including his name on the ballot.

2019: Located and recovered approximately $200 million dollars on behalf of our client, a Chinese industrialist, who was the victim of an employee, the head of his North American operations, who had embezzled $240 million during the time of his employment. The money had been stolen through a series of large scale construction projects and acquisitions and the money was then re-routed worldwide and used to acquire significant assets including $72 million in red diamonds, a $40 million dollar Ferrari, multi-million dollar homes in the Seychelles Islands, California, and Texas, and approximately $30 million dollars’ worth of high end luxury automobiles. The settlement and transfer of title occurred after the filing and prosecution of numerous lawsuits in Texas and California.

2019: Successfully represented a high school student at a major local private school who was accused of sexual assault. The school notified the student’s parents that he would be expelled and we sued the school for breach of contract. After a three day hearing, the Court enjoined the school from expelling the student and he was permitted to attend school. A confidential settlement was later obtained on behalf of the student.

2019: Successfully negotiated a life-rights contract on behalf of a major Los Angeles production company and the leader of a Mexican drug cartel. The project is currently in pre-production as a feature film.

2018: Successfully negotiated a licensing agreement between Rap-A-Lot records and Supreme New York Clothing to manufacture a full line of clothing with the record company’s logo.

• Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA)
• White Collar Crime
• Criminal Law
• Complex Litigation
• Health Care Fraud
• Bank Fraud
• Government Contract Fraud
• Homicide
• State and Federal Courts
• Internal Investigation
• Narcotics/Conspiracies
• Government Investigations
• Private Investigations
• PPP Fraud
• PPP Fraud Investigations

• Bates College of Law University of Houston (1981)
• University of Texas (1978)