Texas has been rocked by a scandalous home renovation scam, with a husband-and-wife team at the center of a breathtaking $4.8 million fraud.

Christopher Judge and wife Raquelle, both under 35, left more than 40 families stranded in hazardous, unfinished houses while splurging on designer goodies and cosmetic procedures for themselves. 

From August 2020 through January 2023, the Judges strutted onto the Texas renovation scene, faking credentials and promising reality TV-worthy makeovers under their company, Judge DFW LLC. Instead of dream homes, clients got disasters – crumbling walls, botched tiles, and a laundry list of code violations. Authorities say Christopher, who masqueraded as a licensed architect, never had the credentials he claimed. 

After finally pleading guilty in federal court, details spilled out: the couple lured victims from social media with deals that seemed way too good to be true – because they were. Their pitch? Prices below competitors’, explained away as ‘special rates’ since they were ‘just starting out.’ In reality, clients were left with construction nightmares and bank accounts drained. 

Just ask Lane Simmons and his wife. After discovering the Judges on a local moms’ Facebook group, the pair arrived at Simmons’ home serving up TV power-couple vibes. ‘They came in like they were Chip and Joanna, but we got amateurs instead,’ Simmons told WFAA. Result: floors cracked, staircases barely anchored, sagging kitchen tiles, and entire structures needing demolition and redo. Simmons alone forked out more than $200,000 before realizing he’d been duped—and then had to pay again to repair the chaos. Experts called the work some of the shoddiest they’d ever seen.

The Judges meanwhile blew thousands in ill-gotten gains on plastic surgery—one procedure running $10,000—and online shopping sprees on Amazon totaling $82,000. 

One homeowner hired the couple to build her ideal house from scratch, only for nothing but delays, headaches, and a half-built ruin to show for her trust. Nearly two dozen families signed contracts lured by cheap estimates, only to find themselves homeless in homes declared unsafe for living. 

Federal prosecutors say the con artists’ exposure was only a matter of time. With the Judges now heading for sentencing, their victims are left picking up the pieces of destroyed dreams—and expensive repairs.