Reality TV star 'Mr Flip It' jailed for four years for fraud and ordered to pay $10million to 11 victims

A former reality TV star has been sentenced to four years in jail and ordered to pay nearly $10 million (around £8.1million) after being found guilty of fraud.

Todd 'Mr Flip It' Hill, who featured in a show called “Flip It to Win It”, was handed his prison sentence and ordered to to pay back restitution of $9,402,678.43 (£7,615,417.31) to his 11 victims earlier this month. He will also serve 10 years of probation after the end of his prison sentence.

58-year-old Hill was indicted in November 2019, according to the Santa Clara County's District Attorney's office, after an investigation showed that he had committed multiple frauds. He was found to have swindling investors' money to fund a levish lifestyle for himself. Evidence showed that Hill spent the laundered money on a rented apartment in San Francisco, as well as hotels, vacations, and luxury cars.

On September 27, the fraudster was convicted by plea of grand theft against all victims and admitted to aggravated white-collar enhancements. In one case, he diverted construction money for his personal use. Prosecutor Oanh Tran told ABC7 that Hill's multiple scams included a Ponzi scheme that impacted 18 homes in the Silicon Valley, California. “I think this is a major real estate fraud case - there are 11 victims here who are still dealing with the fallout,' Tran said.

The DA's Office said that he took investor's money that was meant to buy homes and instead used it to fund an extravagant lifestyle for himself, but he was able to go unnoticed while running the Ponzi scheme. In order to hide the theft, Hill created false balance sheets and acquired loans using fraudulent information.

Tran added: “He took money from an investor who he started a company with, laundered the financial accounts which he had complete control over. The point was to purchase a home and remodel them and sell them for a profit, but he would take the money that was given to remodel the home and spend it on luxury cars, vacations, partying as he has stated. And in order to account for that, he would label it as construction costs.”

One of Hill's victims called Max Keech lost about $6 million (around £4.8million) after the scammer submitted fraudulent invoices and manipulated financial records to embezzle money from him, according to The Mercury News. Prosecutors said in a news release that another one of his victims, who has not been named, had provided $250,000 (£202,452.50) for remodeling - but they found the property destroyed with no work completed.

Most of the scams occurred in 2013, according to court documents. Speaking further about Hill’s victims, Tran said: “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.”

“Flip It to Win It” was an American reality show that featured five teams of expert flippers who bid against each other for abandoned houses, without having seen them first. The houses were then renovated by the winning team and sold on again in a bid to make money. It aired for two season from 2013 to 2014.