Chait hit with foreclosure suit at corruption-plagued Broward development plot

Developer Bruce Chait, whose attempts to build homes on a 48-acre swath of land in Monterey/Sabal Palm over the past few years spawned a series of Broward County corruption charges, has been hit with a foreclosure lawsuit over the property at the center of the scandal. Mortgage originator Branch Bank & Trust sold the developers’ $4 million loan in September, at which point the new mortgage holders threatened to take back the property if Chait didn’t pay off the balance. Chait, who, with Prestige Homes, had planned 34 residences for the former golf course along the Florida Turnpike, pleaded guilty to unlawful compensation in August and was sentenced to four years’ probation. His $25,000 deal with former Broward County Commissioner Josephus Eggeletion resulted in a two-and-a-half-year prison sentence for the politician, while Broward County School Board member Stephanie Kraft and her husband, Mitch, have also been charged with unlawful compensation and bribery in connection with the project. [SFBJ]