A former reality TV star from “Flip It to Win It” has been convicted of a Silicon Valley real estate fraud scheme and sentenced to four years in prison and ordered to pay $9.4 million in restitution.
Charles “Todd” Hill, 58, of Los Gatos, was convicted last fall of real estate and financial fraud, sentenced to prison and ordered to pay restitution to 11 victims, according to reports from the San Jose Mercury News and the Daily Beast. He was given 10 years' probation.
Hill, known as “Mr. Flip It” on the HGTV series that aired a decade ago, used investors' money to buy dilapidated homes, renovate them and sell them for a profit. But when the business model resulted in losses, he used the money for his own living expenses and covered them with fraudulent accounting, prosecutors allege.
According to the HGTV website, the show's only season featured a “high-stakes hour” in which “experienced real estate agents compete to bid on abandoned homes without ever seeing them” and then work to sell them.
“Some see the huge amounts of money flowing into Silicon Valley real estate as a business opportunity,” Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen said in a statement. “Unfortunately, some see it as an opportunity to commit crimes, and we intend to hold them accountable.”
Hill pleaded guilty to grand larceny and a felony white collar crime and was sentenced in September.
Prosecutors said Hill was indicted following an investigation by the District Attorney's Office in 2019 into multiple fraud schemes, including one that took place before he appeared on the show. Evidence showed Hill used the laundered funds to rent an apartment in San Francisco, as well as hotels, vacations and luxury cars.
According to prosecutors, Hill also created a Ponzi scheme to use funds provided by investors to buy homes and live a lavish lifestyle, and he concealed the thefts by creating false balance sheets and taking out loans using false information.
Prosecutors said another investor toured a home he'd spent $250,000 to renovate and found only the burned-out exterior and no maintenance left.
Victims who testified at the sentencing said they continue to suffer financial and professional damages from the fraud, according to the district attorney's office.
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A few months after “Flip It to Win It” aired, Hill was sued by a former lead investor who claimed he'd been defrauded of renovation funds, according to The Daily Beast.
In his civil lawsuit, Max Keach alleges that he once funded more than 90 percent of Hill's real estate flipping business, but that Hill accepted “money for work that was never performed,” falsified books and pocketed the profits.
Hill denied the allegations, which led his former reality TV partner to denounce him and cut ties with him. It's unclear whether Keach's lawsuit is ongoing. Hill's lawyer said in 2014 that he expected the dispute would be resolved in private arbitration.
Dana Bartholomew