Former HGTV Star Charles 'Todd' Hill Sentenced to 4 Years in Jail
Hill was also ordered to pay back nearly $10 million for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims
Former HGTV star Charles “Todd” Hill has been sentenced to four years in Santa Clara County Jail for multiple fraud schemes.
Hill, who appeared on the series Flip It to Win It, which debuted in 2014, was also ordered to pay back nearly $10 million for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims, according to a press release from the County of Santa Clara’s Office of the District Attorney.
The 58-year-old HGTV alum, who lives in Los Gatos, Calif., was indicted in November 2019 after a DA investigation.
In September 2023, Hill admitted to grand theft with aggravated white-collar enhancements and was convicted of various scams, including some perpetrated before the show, which ran for one season. He was ordered to pay back restitution in the amount of $9,402,678.43 and serve 10 years on probation.
“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.”
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Santa Clara County JailAccording to the press release announcing his sentencing, Hill “spent millions on overbudget remodels, laundered profits, and pocketed millions in fraudulently obtained money.”
The laundered money went toward hotels, vacations, luxury cars and a rented apartment in San Francisco. He was also found to have diverted construction money for his personal use.
A Ponzi scheme perpetrated by Hill involved creating false balance sheets and using fraudulent information to obtain loans.
The release also cites a case in which an investor spent $250,000 for a home to be remodeled and instead found it to be a “burnt down shell with no work done on it.”
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Victims who spoke at a hearing on April 16 said they were still suffering financial and professional damages from the fraud committed against them.
Hill's show, Flip It to Win It, featured five teams of “expert flippers” bidding against one another for abandoned houses, sight unseen.
The series, which ran for 13 episodes, is described on HGTV’s website as a “high-stakes hour in which three auctions are won, three houses are renovated and then all three houses go on the market for top dollar.”
PEOPLE reached out to HGTV for comment, but did not immediately hear back.
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