Again when mortgage charges and residential costs had been extra affordable and manageable, owners invested in fixer-upper properties and made them their very own. Now most of these tasks aren’t as fashionable. However within the early-to-mid-2010s, HGTV exhibits together with Fixer Higher, Love It or Listing It, and Flip It to Win It had been all the fad as viewers binge-watched dilapidated properties remodel into dream properties.
However because it seems, one former HGTV star was masking his house-flipping present with main actual property fraud. On Tuesday, Charles “Todd” Hill, was sentenced to 4 years and jail and ordered to pay again almost $10 million to his victims following his conviction. Los Gatos, Calif.-based Hill, 58, was the star of the HGTV present Flip It to Win It, which aired in 2013 and featured he and his group buying dilapidated properties and fixing them up. Then Hill offered them for a revenue.
“Some see the massive sum of money in Silicon Valley actual property as a enterprise alternative,” Santa Clara County District Legal professional Jeff Rosen mentioned in a press release. “Others, sadly, see it as a prison alternative—and we are going to maintain these individuals strictly accountable.”
What did Hill do?
Based on the indictment shared with Fortune, the accusations towards Hill occurred between 2012 and 2014, across the time his present (which lasted only one season) started. The indictment exhibits 10 counts of grand theft of private property exceeding $950,000; three counts of embezzlement; and one depend of diversion of development funds. Hill couldn’t be reached by Fortune to touch upon the indictment, conviction, or sentencing.
Hill was convicted final 12 months of the a number of fraud schemes, together with scams that occurred earlier than his present aired. This included a Ponzi scheme with proof displaying that Hill had spent laundered cash on a rented condominium in San Francisco, accommodations, holidays, and luxurious automobiles, in accordance with a press launch from the Santa Clara County’s District Legal professional’s Workplace. HGTV didn’t reply to requests for remark from Fortune forward of publication.
“To cover the theft, he created false steadiness sheets and bought loans utilizing fraudulent data,” in accordance with the district lawyer’s workplace. In one other case, Hill diverted development cash for private use. However one of many strangest accounts got here from an investor who had poured $250,000 in a property he needed Hill to rework.
As a substitute, throughout the tour of the house, the investor “discovered it to be a burnt down shell with no work accomplished on it.”
After the district lawyer’s investigation, Hill was indicted in November 2019 and in September 2023 admitted his guilt and was convicted by plea of grand theft towards all of his victims. He’ll should pay restitution of greater than $9.4 million and serve 10 years of probation.
Victims who spoke at Tuesday’s listening to mentioned they’re nonetheless reeling from the monetary {and professional} damages from the fraud, in accordance with the district lawyer’s workplace.