Heavy A former HGTV personality has been sentenced to four years in prison
Over the past decade, expert house-flippers have become a key to HGTV‘s success, from “Property Brothers” Drew and Jonathan Scott to former “Flip or Flop” couple Tarek El Moussa and Christina Hall.
While viewers and clients trust those personalities to deliver the best outcomes, records show that one of the network’s early home-flipping experts, Charles “Todd” Hill of the 2014 series “Flip It to Win It,” was scamming people before, during, and after he was on the network.
On April 16, 2024, Hill was sentenced to four years in prison and “ordered to pay back close to $10 million for committing real estate and financial fraud against 11 victims,” according to prosecutors in Santa Clara, California.
HGTV’s ‘Flip It to Win It’ Premiered Alongside ‘Fixer Upper’
After the surprise success of “Flip or Flop” in 2013, HGTV greenlit two more home-flipping shows, according to The Hollywood Reporter. “Flip It to Win It” was announced as a new series at the same time as another home-flipping show, “Fixer Upper,” starring then-unknown home renovators Chip and Joanna Gaines.
“Flip It to Win It” was billed as “the ultimate house war,” according to a 2014 article published on RISMedia. Based in the San Francisco Bay area, HGTV followed six teams of investors and real estate agents — including Hill and his business partner, Michael Kaufman — as they would bid on foreclosed homes and then race to renovate and sell the homes they bought, trying to beat the other teams in turning speedy profits.
But according to a release from the Santa Clara County District Attorney’s office, Hill instead “spent millions on overbudget remodels, laundered profits, and pocketed millions in fraudulently obtained money.
Over the last decade, investigators have tracked Hill’s pattern of fraud, including a Ponzi scheme, according to the release, which said Hill was convicted in 2023 after “evidence showed that Hill spent the laundered money on a rented apartment in San Francisco, as well as hotels, vacations, and luxury cars.”
District Attorney’s Office Has Been Investigating Charles ‘Todd’ Hill for 10 Years
HGTV/YouTubeFormer “Flip It to Win It” team Todd Hill and Michael Kaufman
In what’s now become an eerily predictive exchange on the show’s trailer, Hill said, “I don’t want to go broke,” and Kaufman heartily laughed, replying, “No, it’s inevitable. Just not for a while.”
Though Kaufman still practices real estate in California, per his LinkedIn profile, Hill found himself in hot water soon after “Flip It to Win It” aired, facing accusations of fraud. Kaufman ended their business partnership in 2014, according to the Mercury News, after Hill was sued by his top investor, who claimed he defrauded him out of $6 million.
Then, in December 2018, Hill was arrested for allegedly stealing more than $200,000 from each of four different victims, from March 2013 to July 2014, according to the San Francisco Gate.
“He started losing money and began manipulating the books to make it appear profitable,” Santa Clara County Deputy District Attorney Christine Garcia-Sen told the newspaper at the time. “Then, he created a new company and transferred assets from the other company to attract new investors.”
Known in the area as “Mr. Flip It,” Hill was booked into jail but later released on a $500,000 bond, according to the San Jose Mercury News. The recent release from Santa Clara County’s DA said that Hill was indicted in November 2019 for fraud against multiple victims.
After nearly 10 years of investigating his activity, the DA’s Office said in its release that in 2023, Hill was “convicted by plea of grand theft against all victims and admitted the aggravated white-collar enhancements.”
Multiple victims attended his sentencing on April 16, still suffering after losing money to Hill.
“Businesses were shut down, one victim lost his home, so the consequences of his fraud are far reaching that cover various aspects of life that these victims are still dealing with,” Tran told ABC7 News.
According to the San Francisco Gate, Hill will serve his sentence at the Elmwood Men’s Facility, “a medium to minimum security jail” in Milpitas, California.