Charles ‘Todd’ Hill, the former star of the HGTV show ‘Flip It to Win It,’ has been sentenced to four years in jail for real estate and financial fraud.
Prosecutors alleged that Hill, who was known as ‘Mr. Flip-It’ on the show, spent millions of dollars on overbudget remodels, laundered profits, and pocketed millions in fraudulently obtained money. The Santa Clara County District Attorney’s Office said Hill used the money to rent an apartment in San Francisco, as well as for hotels, vacations, and luxury cars.
Hill was also convicted of creating a Ponzi scheme by taking an investor’s money budgeted to buy homes and using it to live lavishly. To hide the theft, he created false balance sheets and got loans using fraudulent information.
In another scheme, an investor toured a home for which he had provided Hill with $250,000 for remodeling, only to discover that the home was a burnt-down shell and no work had been done on it.
Hill was indicted in November 2019 and convicted on September 27, 2023, of grand theft against all victims and admitted to aggravated white-collar enhancements. He was ordered to pay back restitution in the amount of $9.4 million.
‘Flip It to Win It’ aired on HGTV for one season in 2014. In the show, teams of renovators competed to flip homes around Silicon Valley. Hill competed as one half of a duo on the show and reportedly netted $134,000 in profit from their flipping project.
Following sentencing, the Santa Clara County judge ordered Hill to immediately report to jail on April 16.
