What’s Ugly? Forgery and Lies and Ruining Lives

Regular Deeds.com readers will have seen this one coming. Yes, it finally happened. A former “We Buy Ugly Houses” franchise owner has received a 15-plus-year sentence for wire fraud.

Although… Not before his home investment scheme reportedly sucked $39 million from more than 80 unsuspecting investors.

Eight Years of Havoc

Charles C. of Dallas has pleaded guilty to a complex chain of swindles beginning in 2018. He would advertise opportunities to investors to fund his house-flipping work. He worked under the business name C&C Residential Properties. It’s a franchise of HomeVestors®. That’s the corporation behind the “We Buy Ugly Houses” advertising posters scattered across 48 states in the nation.

Under the C&C business model, Charles would rent out the fixed-up homes and share proceeds with investors. The investors were promised high-percentage interest on the funds they advanced. They could always recoup their investments by selling the properties—or so they thought.

Some of the properties the investors thought they controlled were actually sold already.

And sometimes, there was no recorded lien that would have actually given these investors their right to sell the properties if their advanced funds couldn’t be paid back.

What was going on?

For years, Charles was:

• Telling investors their loans were attached to the homes, with first‑priority liens.

• Sometimes failing to record any deed of trust for a mortgage, or using several deeds of trust on one home.

• Leveraging the value of properties—some of which he actually owned, others that he did not have any right to leverage.

• Selling homes without the investors’ knowledge.

• Falsifying Texas lien releases.

• Paying off his own credit cards and spending on unrelated business costs—with investors’ money.

By early 2024, Charles was borrowing againstfuture proceeds. This involved getting loans with massive fees and very high rates. Within the year, the franchise was deep in debt. Multiple lenders took Charles to court to get their repayments. Charles filed counterclaims, citing their sky-high interest rates.

By late 2024, Charles had lost the magic touch. The scheme was caving in. Yet he was expected to keep on top of the franchise fees owed to HomeVestors. He also had to keep making regular payments to all of his own investors.

He couldn’t come up with the promised interest payments. Some investors got wise to the fact that their loans lacked collateral. By that time, some had parted with millions of dollars.

At this point, HomeVestors finally suspended the C&C Residential Properties franchise.

Investing in real estate through a third party? Get an independent title pro to run a search on the title and file your ownership stake with the county recorder of deeds.

The Latest in This Case

Charles C. pleaded guilty to wire fraud in late 2025. 

In September 2026, federal officials announced that Charles, as president of the Dallas-based real estate investment firm, was sentenced to more than 15 years in federal prison for his white-collar crime, years in the making. He was also ordered to pay more than $24 million to victims. Charles’s lawyer now suggests the possibility of an appeal. As Charles is 68, he could be looking at a life sentence.

To say the least, it’s a dramatic fall from grace for a superstar franchise owner. At his peak, Charles trained other franchisees. He bragged that his business was the largest and most lucrative of all HomeVestors franchises.

One of his associates planned steak dinners to entice new prospects to invest. And they did—six figures at a time. The early investors were promised, and got, about 9% in annual gains. Friends told friends. More investors turned up.

HomeVestors has sued Charles. HomeVestors claimed that Charles, as franchise president, worked on his own. The corporation said it’s not responsible for the methods Charles chose to use. And that it doesn’t condone and never contributed to the crimes at issue. OK. But a corporation has a duty to keep its franchises in line with business ethics. Was the corporation carrying out regular auditing of the accounting at the C&C franchise?  

HomeVestors made money from C&C Residential Properties for years.

HomeVestors and the franchise have been sued by investors. The legal saga continues. Expect more legal updates on this case in December.

Update on the Ponzi Scheme in Ohio

What’s happened with Mark D., the former high school basketball coach who was alleged to have operated a years-long real estate Ponzi scheme that sucked $200 million from investors?

After a hearing in the Summit County Common Pleas Court, Mark D. and his spouse (and a trust they control) now owe $7 million in Ponzi scheme restitution—for what he personally got out of the scheme.

Mark’s house-flipping business looked very similar to the one Charles ran. And both cases involved taking investors’ money and paying earlier investors with those funds.

Mark’s early investors were getting more than 8%—sometimes as much as 30% in profits. The music stopped in late 2021. Some investors lost their life savings.

All this time, a Cleveland-based receiver is still working through the legal actions against the couple’s businesses. Nearly 100 lawsuits were filed in Summit County. The receiver has been working to pry funds from the earlier investors, who made profits. (An example of the many stories can be found in this bankruptcy court document.)

Terrible Aftermath

This is the terrible aftermath of a real estate Ponzi scheme. Every losing investor is forced to chase the winners to recover their lost money. Many will not succeed. Their hopes for comfortable retirements may be completely dashed. And the bankruptcy courts will be kept busy. 

The wealthiest investors foreclose on the liens they control. That depletes the pot of assets which smaller investors scramble for. It’s hard to find lawyers for investors without deep pockets.

So, the next time someone asks you out to a steak dinner, line up a good legal advisor.