Former HGTV star sentenced to prison for fraud

(TMX) - Former HGTV star Charles “Todd” Hill was sentenced Tuesday to four years in jail for committing real estate and financial fraud and ordered to pay nearly $10 million in restitution.

Hill, known as “Mr. Flip It,” was the star of HGTV’s 2014 series “Flip It to Win It,” in which he purportedly bought dilapidated homes and renovated them, selling them for a profit.

But according to the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office, he instead “spent millions on overbudget remodels, laundered profits, and pocketed millions in fraudulently obtained money.”

Hill was indicted in 2019 on charges connected to multiple frauds against multiple victims, including some that occurred before the series. Last year, he was convicted by plea of grand theft against 11 victims and admitted to aggravated white-collar enhancements.

In one of the frauds, Hill created a Ponzi scheme, taking an investor’s money to buy homes but instead using it to “live lavishly.”

In order to hide the theft, Hill “created false balance sheets and got loans using fraudulent information.”

In another case, an investor provided $250,000 to remodel a home, but when he toured the home, he “found it to be a burnt down shell with no work done on it.”

In another case, Hill took construction funds for personal use.

“Some see the huge amount of money in Silicon Valley real estate as a business opportunity,” District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Others, unfortunately, see it as a criminal opportunity — and we will hold those people strictly accountable.”

At the sentencing hearing on Tuesday, victims said they were still suffering both financially and professionally as a result of the fraud.

Hill was sentenced to four years in prison, with 10 years of probation, and was ordered to pay $9,402,678.43 in restitution to the victims.

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