Who’d have thought that a house-flipping character calling himself “Mr. Flip It” on an HGTV reality show would be neck-deep in real estate fraud? South Bay man Charles "Todd" Hill was just sentenced to four years for a $10 million scheme.

In 2014, there was an HGTV reality show called Flip It to Win It. (It lasted one season). It was set in Silicon Valley, and the premise of the show was “five teams of expert flippers bid against each other for abandoned houses sight unseen.” In the trailer below, we see one of these teams, described as “Todd & Michael,” and Todd would become known as "Mr. Flip It."  

“I don't want to go broke,” laughs Todd. “Even though it’s inevitable!” jokes his teammate Michael.

Boy does that banter land a little differently once you read a 2016 Bay Area News Group report that “Todd” had been sued by an investor over a $6 million real estate fraud scheme. That report also noted that Michael quickly ended his business relationship with Todd, whose real name is Charles "Todd" Hill.

SFGate reported in 2018 that Hill was arrested on grand theft charges for his house-flipping schemes. In a development that recalls his “I don't want to go broke” line, prosecutors alleged that Hil’’s company was in fact broke, and he falsified data to keep his real estate investors involved. Hill was apparently found guilty this past September, and KPIX reports he’s been sentenced to four years in jail and ordered to repay his victims $9.4 million.

According to prosecutors, Hill’s house-flipping schemes often involved not doing any repairs with investors’ money, and instead he “spent the laundered money on a rented apartment in San Francisco, as well as hotels, vacations, and luxury cars.” Prosecutors say he also created fake balance sheets to dupe the investors, and to fraudulently acquire more loans.

"Some see the huge amount of money in Silicon Valley real estate as a business opportunity," Santa Clara County DA Jeff Rosen said in a statement. "Others, unfortunately, see it as a criminal opportunity – and we will hold those people strictly accountable."

Related: City Attorney Fines Local House-Flipper $1.2 Million For Unpermitted Construction [SFist]

Image: Flip It to Win It via Facebook