‘We Buy Ugly Houses’ Fraudster Gets Prison in $40M Scheme To Rip Off Investors

The former owner of the Dallas franchise of "We Buy Ugly Homes" was sentenced more than 15 years in prison after pleading guilty to carrying out a multimillion-dollar real estate scheme that stole money from dozens of investors.

From 2018 to 2024, Charles Carrier defrauded investors out of more than $39 million by falsely claiming the money would be used to acquire, renovate, and resell properties through the HomeVesters "We Buy Ugly Houses" brand. In reality, the funds were being used for personal expenses and payments to earlier investors. 

In effect, Carrier ran an elaborate but haphazard Ponzi scheme, forging multiple deeds and selling properties without informing investors. An investigation by ProPublica found that in some cases, Carrier took as many as five loans out on one property at a time.

Homevestor's "Ugly Houses" model targets distressed properties and motivated sellers, offering an all-cash offer. HomeVestors then quickly flips the property for a profit or resells it to another investor. The "ugly" in the name refers to targeting "ugly" situations, such as divorces, deaths, and foreclosure threats. Typically, homeowners are trading a top-dollar deal for a quick transaction that gets them out of debt.

Carrier targeted both wealthy investors across Texas and retirees living off of savings according to the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Northern District of Texas. In a 2025 statement to ProPublica, Carrier said the scheme ended only because he decided to come clean about it.

"When this thing finally stopped, it was completely driven by me saying ‘enough’ and going to the people and saying, ‘Here’s the mess I’ve created,’” he told the outlet. “This is a mess created by me.”

Carrier opened "We Buy Ugly Houses" franchise in 2005. For many years, Carrier had been held up as a model franchisee.

“Chas Carrier, for maybe 15 years, was one of the golden boys at HomeVestors,” Ben Ahern, a fellow HomeVestor franchisee told ProPublica. “Internally, it was like, ‘Do whatever Chas Carrier’s doing.’”

In fact, one reason he was able to carry out his scheme was because he had delivered consistent returns for so many years.

But in 2024, Carrier began struggling to pay back his investors. That year, he took out more than a million dollars in high-interest cash loans, driving himself further into debt.

Investors started to take action. In 2025, a Dallas district court issued a default judgment against Carrier in the amount of $10.5 million in favor of one of Carrier's investors, Jeffrey Daly.

In October 2025, Carrier pleaded guilty to wire fraud. In addition to the 188-month federal prison sentence, Carrier was ordered pay $24,416,911.16 in restitution to his victims.

But it's too late for some. Ronald Carver began investing with Carrier in 2017, and after seeing early returns, convinced his elderly father to invest as well.

Carver told ProPublica he and his father lost around $700,000 to Carrier's schemes. Though he's now been ordered to pay restitution, it's too late for Carver's dad, who died last year.

“Financial fraud isn’t just numbers on a ledger—it’s a direct assault on hardworking Americans who trusted an alleged expert with their savings,” said U.S. Attorney Ryan Raybould in a statement. "Carrier didn’t just target investors; he preyed on Main Street families, retirees, and small business owners."