Texas billionaire and Republican campaign donor Charles Wyly, who was facing a lawsuit by federal securities regulators, was killed in a car crash near Aspen, Colo., over the weekend, police said yesterday.

Wyly, 77, died at an Aspen-area hospital after his Porsche was struck by another vehicle as he was turning left off a state highway, reports said..

Wyly was a co-founder of Michaels, a chain of arts-and-crafts stores that was sold in 2006. Wyly owned a home outside Aspen.

Following a six-year probe, the SEC last July accused Wyly and his brother Samuel of creating a sham web of offshore trusts to conceal 13 years of stock sales in four companies they founded or where they served as directors.