Weekly Real Estate News
Summary
Charles Carrier was sentenced to 188 months in federal prison and ordered to pay $24.4 million in restitution in a real estate investment fraud involving more than 80 investors.
A Dallas real estate investor who prosecutors said promised investors first-position liens on residential properties while repeatedly failing to provide those protections has been sentenced to 188 months in federal prison.
Charles Carrier, 67, was also ordered to pay $24,416,911.16 in restitution. Carrier pleaded guilty to wire fraud in October 2025, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Northern District of Texas.
More than 80 investors were caught in the scheme
Federal prosecutors said Carrier, president of a Dallas-based real estate investment firm, solicited money from more than 80 investors from at least 2018 through 2024. He represented that their funds would be used to acquire, renovate and resell specific residential properties.
Carrier intended to defraud investors of $39,514,300, according to court records cited by prosecutors.
A central part of the pitch was security. Investors were told their loans would be protected by first-position liens on the properties. Prosecutors said Carrier frequently failed to record the promised deeds of trust, placed multiple deeds of trust on the same properties and concealed overlapping claims.
Properties were sold without investors being told
Prosecutors said Carrier also sold properties without notifying investors and used forged or unauthorized lien releases to complete transactions. Investor money was diverted to personal expenses, unrelated business costs and payments to earlier investors, according to the government.
The case has particular relevance for private real estate lending because the promised collateral protection was not a peripheral issue. The supposed first-position liens were a core reason investors believed their capital was secured.
Due diligence goes beyond seeing a deed of trust
For private lenders and investors, the case is a reminder that lien priority must be independently verified and monitored. A document purporting to secure an investment is not the same as confirming that the instrument was properly recorded, that no undisclosed senior or competing liens exist and that the property has not been transferred without required consent.
The FBI’s Dallas Field Office investigated the case. U.S. District Judge Brantley Starr imposed the sentence.
