Christopher Judge, left, and his wife, Raquelle Judge, in an Instagram post from June 2020. The couple are facing federal prison time in a multimillion-dollar business scheme, federal authorities say.
Christopher and Raquelle Judge/Instagram
A Fort Worth couple defrauded more than 40 people out of about $4.2 million in a false business scheme that ran for almost three years, federal authorities said Tuesday.
Christopher Judge, 35, and his wife Raquelle, 36, pleaded guilty in federal court last December to charges of conspiracy to commit wire fraud, according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in North Texas. Christopher Judge will spend six and a half years in prison followed by two years of supervised release, and Raquelle Judge will serve one month.
The couple will also be required to pay $2.7 million in restitution, according to the statement.
The Judges managed Judge DFW LLC and marketed themselves as providers of custom architecture, construction and home design services, according to court documents. Starting in August 2020, the couple induced victims in six counties to enter into contracts for home projects, officials said.
Even though the victims paid multiple installments for the projects, the Judges frequently failed to complete the work or abandoned projects entirely, leaving victims without finished homes, according to the news release. The couple also falsely represented that Christopher Judge was a licensed architect.
The couple also deposited all the victims’ payments into the same bank account, meaning their money was frequently used for unrelated construction projects, federal investigators said.
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Lillie Davidson is a breaking news reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. She graduated from TCU in 2025 with a bachelor’s degree in journalism, is fluent in Spanish, and can complete a crossword in five minutes.