A Texas real estate investor behind a $69.5 million fraud scheme pleaded guilty in federal court to one count of wire fraud.
Devin Ward Elder was the founder and CEO of the San Antonio-based investment firm DJE Texas Management Group LLC, which was formed in March 2015 and employed dozens of people. DJE invested in multifamily apartments, industrial flexible workspace units, land projects, commercial building projects, and offered investment in a so-called “Income Fund.” Fourteen of DJE’s 17 offered investments acquired real property, and each property was owned by a separate LLC created for the limited purpose of purchasing and owning the investment property.
According to court documents, Elder fraudulently raised more than $69.5 million from approximately 345 investor victims that participated in 17 real estate investments from January 2023 to March 2025. Elder lured investors through a series of fraudulent presentations that promised high returns with low risk. Among many other false representations, Elder promised that he would “co-invest” his own money.
Elder followed the Ponzi scheme strategy of making interest payments to investors of one project using investor funds from other projects without disclosing the nature or source of those interest payments. Over the 26-month life of the scheme, investors received approximately $8.8 million in payments that Elder purported to be “interest” and “principal” payments. In reality, many of the payments consisted of the investments of investors in other funds rather than actual investment returns.
In March 2025, Elder halted interest payments to the victim-investors, informing them that his businesses were having financial difficulties, the projects would not be completed, and they should expect to lose a large portion of their investments.
Elder was charged with one count of wire fraud on Jan. 28 and summoned to appear in federal court on Feb. 17, at which time he pleaded guilty. He is scheduled to be sentenced the week of June 2 and faces up to 20 years in prison.
