A former HGTV star is headed to the large home. Charles “Todd” Hill, of Los Gatos, Calif., has been sentenced to 4 years in jail for actual property and monetary fraud. The previous star of Flip It to Win It should additionally pay almost $10 million in restitution to 11 victims, the Santa Clara County District Legal professional stated.
What did Charles “Todd” Hill do?
In September 2023, Hill, 58, was convicted of grand theft with aggravated white-collar enhancements. On April 16, he was sentenced to 4 years in jail. He was additionally ordered to pay $9.4 million in restitution and can serve 10 years on probation.
Hill was indicted in November 2019 after an investigation uncovered proof of fraud, together with scams that predated his time on HGTV. Amongst his crimes have been diverting building cash for private use. He additionally ran a Ponzi scheme the place he took cash traders gave him to purchase properties and used it to fund a lavish life-style, together with an house in San Francisco, accommodations, holidays, and luxurious automobiles. He hid the theft with pretend steadiness sheets and fraudulently obtained loans.
One investor gave Hill $250,000 to transform a house. However when he toured the property, he discovered it was a burnt-out shell and no work had been accomplished.
Hill’s victims who testified on the sentencing listening to stated they have been nonetheless struggling monetary {and professional} damages from the fraud.
“Some see the large amount of cash in Silicon Valley actual property as a enterprise alternative,” District Legal professional Jeff Rosen stated. “Others, sadly, see it as a legal alternative – and we’ll maintain these individuals strictly accountable.”
Hill starred in HGTV’s ‘Flip It to Win It’
Hill starred within the short-lived HGTV house-flipping sequence Flip It to Win It, which aired for one season in 2014. It featured “5 groups of professional flippers” who “bid in opposition to one another for deserted homes sight unseen,” in accordance with HGTV’s web site.
“It’s a high-stakes hour through which three auctions are received, three homes are renovated after which all three homes go available on the market for prime greenback,” the outline continues.
The present highlighted Hill’s enterprise of shopping for run-down properties, fixing them up, after which promoting them for a revenue. However in accordance with prosecutors, viewers weren’t getting the entire story. In actuality, Hill spent thousands and thousands on overbudget remodels, laundered income, and pocketed thousands and thousands in fraudulently obtained cash.
At one level, Hill gave the impression to be poised to grow to be a outstanding HGTV persona. However his TV profession fizzled out quickly after Flip It to Win It debuted. In 2014, Max Keech, one in all Hill’s traders, sued Hill, accusing him of scamming him out of $6 million. HGTV shortly scuttled plans for a second present that will have featured Hill known as Assume You Can Flip?, The Mercury Information reported on the time.
“I’m a really unhealthy choose of character,” Keech advised the paper. “I made a crucial mistake in not trying over his shoulder. My cash made him a celeb. We began this earlier than there was a TV present. He had the persona to do it.”
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