LOS GATOS – A Los Gatos man who starred in a real estate reality show has been sentenced to prison and ordered to pay nearly $10 million in restitution to his victims after being convicted of real estate fraud, prosecutors said Tuesday.
According to Santa Clara County District Attorney Jeff Rosen’s office, 58-year-old Charles “Todd” Hill received a four-year prison sentence. Hill starred on the HGTV show “Flip It to Win It,” in which teams bought and repaired dilapidated houses before selling them for a profit.
Prosecutors said Hill was sentenced in September 2023 after admitting to grand larceny with aggravated administrative enhancements for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims. Hill was charged in 2019 following an investigation by the district attorney’s office.
“Some see the enormous amount of money in Silicon Valley real estate as a business opportunity,” Rosen said in a statement. “Others unfortunately see it as a criminal opportunity – and we will hold those people strictly accountable.”
According to the district attorney’s office, Hill was involved in “multiple fraud schemes,” with some of the scams predating the HGTV show.
Prosecutors said in one instance he used construction money for personal use. In another case, Hill created a Ponzi scheme by taking money intended to buy homes from an investor and instead spending it on a lavish lifestyle. Prosecutors say he concealed the theft by creating false balance sheets and using fraudulent information to obtain loans.
In a third case, prosecutors said an investor who provided $250,000 to renovate a home toured the property and discovered it was a “burnt shell” with no work done.
Hill had used the money for a rented apartment in San Francisco, along with expenses on hotels, vacations and luxury cars, prosecutors said.
In addition to the prison sentence, Hill was ordered to pay $9,402,678.43 in restitution and serve ten years of probation. Hill has been taken into custody, the district attorney’s office announced.
