A Fort Worth homebuilder was sentenced to serve more than six years in federal prison Tuesday after he admitted to orchestrating a scheme in which he took millions of dollars from consumers who hired the married couple for remodeling and home construction projects.
Christopher Judge, 35, and his wife Raquelle Judge, 36, pled guilty in December to conspiracy to commit wire fraud.
Senior U.S. District Judge Terry R. Means sentenced Christopher Judge to serve 78 months in federal prison to be followed by two years of supervised release, according to a written statement by federal prosecutors. Means ordered Raquelle Judge to serve one month in prison, prosecutors said. Both defendants were ordered to pay $2,794,680.73 in restitution, the statement said.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas, the couple managed Judge DFW LLC, a Texas-based company that they claimed provided custom architecture, construction and interior design services. From 2020 to 2023, the Judges offered below-market bids to consumers, but after they entered design-and-build contracts, they would not finish the job, federal prosecutors said. They often abandoned the projects, according to the prosecutor’s office.
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The couple also falsely claimed Christopher Judge was a licensed architect. They would use victims’ payment to pay for another, unrelated construction project.
Prosecutors said there are more than 40 victims across six counties in Texas. The Judges’ scheme led to about $4.2 million in losses.
U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould said in a statement that the Judges entire business model was “built on lies and deceit.”
“This kind of brazen fraud strikes at the heart of consumer trust,” he said, “and our office will ensure that those who engage in such criminal conduct face justice.”
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This article originally published at Fort Worth homebuilder couple sentenced for fraudulent construction scheme.