Charles “Todd” Hill, who starred on the HGTV present Flip It to Win It, has been sentenced to jail in California for committing actual property and monetary fraud in opposition to 11 victims, prosecutors stated.
“The present’s idea was that he purchased dilapidated houses, fastened them up, after which offered them for a revenue. As an alternative, Hill spent hundreds of thousands on overbudget remodels, laundered earnings, and pocketed hundreds of thousands in fraudulently obtained cash,” the Santa Clara County District Lawyer’s Workplace wrote.
A choose final week sentenced 58-year-old Hill to serve 4 years in jail and pay practically $10 million in restitution to victims.
Hill was convicted final yr of a number of fraud schemes, together with scams perpetrated properly earlier than the present was launched, prosecutors stated.
“Proof confirmed that Hill spent the laundered cash on a rented condominium in San Francisco, in addition to inns, holidays, and luxurious automobiles,” the DA’s workplace stated.
Hill created a Ponzi scheme, prosecutors stated, by taking an investor’s cash budgeted to purchase houses and used it to stay lavishly. He created false stability sheets and received loans utilizing fraudulent data in an effort to disguise his manipulations.
An investor toured a house for which he had supplied Hill with $250,000 for reworking in a single occasion. The investor as a substitute found a burnt-down shell the place no work had been carried out.
“Some see the large amount of cash in Silicon Valley actual property as a enterprise alternative,” District Lawyer Jeff Rosen stated. “Others, sadly, see it as a felony alternative – and we’ll maintain these individuals strictly accountable.”
Hill was indicted in November 2019. On September 27, 2023, he was convicted of grand theft in opposition to all victims and admitted the aggravated white-collar enhancements. Hill was ordered to pay again restitution within the quantity of $9.4 million.
“Flip It to Win It” aired on HGTV for one season in 2014. Groups of renovators competed to flip houses round Silicon Valley.
Hill competed as one-half of a duo on the present. Hill’s workforce secured the “largest revenue” on the present from their flipping mission. The duo reportedly netted $134,000 in revenue.
The Santa Clara County choose ordered Hill to instantly report back to jail on April 16.