Post 5230
See the video at https://rumble.com/v71wwbs-stealing-from-fellow-church-members-is-costly.html and at https://youtu.be/OH8TvtpqWoY
Knowing Misappropriation and Conversion of Funds is Fraud
In re Matthew Jene Tubbs (Bankr. N.D. Tex., Fort Worth Div., No. 22-42728-MXM-7; Adv. No. 23-04019-mxm), October 15, 2025 .
Key Facts
Plaintiffs (Robles) and Defendant (Tubbs) met through their church; both held leadership roles. In Feb 2021 Robles home suffered major water damage from Winter Storm Uri and insurance paid $173,000.
In the Fall of 2021: Tubbs represented to Mr. Robles that he personally built a newer house and large barn on his parents’ property “with his own hands” (except foundation/insulation). That he had 10 years’ experience overseeing window/door installations at a major home-improvement chain, was a licensed contractor (false) and carried general contractor liability insurance.
Relying on these representations and Tubbs’s church handyman work, Robles hired Tubbs as general contractor for insurance repairs + upgrades, even though Tubbs had no prior general contracting experience.
The parties did not enter into a formal written contract. Instead, the parties jointly created a detailed budget Spreadsheet (labor + materials by room) and an 8–9 week timeline (later revised to end of Feb 2022).
Plaintiffs advanced $216,000 to Tubbs. Tubbs made almost no meaningful progress by August 2022 and was fired. Most items on the Spreadsheet never started. Flooring and kitchen cabinets he did start were defective and had to be redone. Tubbs failed to buy most materials despite having the funds and could not account for the money. Tubbs admitted on June 10, 2022: “I do not have the money to finish the project right now.” Tubbs admitted he used project funds for personal expenses (floor sander $5,000; personal credit-card bills $8,581).
Tubbs claimed he paid himself ~$78,000 as a legitimate GC/overhead fee ($10k/month). Court rejected this as not credible and unsupported by the Spreadsheet or timeline. Tubbs raised numerous defenses (undue influence by church authority, insurance fraud by plaintiffs, no binding contract, Tex. Prop. Code § 162.031(b) trust-fund defense, illegality, unclean hands, mistake, statute of frauds, etc.).
