Delray Beach agents charged with targeting Haitians in mortgage fraud scheme

Two Delray Beach real estate brokers have been accused of targeting Haitian immigrants in a $3.58 million mortgage fraud scheme. The brokers, Alex Byron Little and Jean Pedro Jean Baptiste, were arrested on four counts of fraud and one count of white collar crime against the elderly and released on bail yesterday. With the help of Boca Raton title attorney Stephen Beyer, the men allegedly duped six individuals or couples — many of whom were illiterate — into 16 phony mortgage transactions on nine properties in Delray Beach, Boynton Beach and Royal Palm Beach. The men forged signatures, faked income reports and collected commissions on the deals, and then later, when all of the properties subsequently went into foreclosure, they rented them out to new tenants. Bayer, who runs First National Title Company, was not charged in the scheme and is still licensed by the state. [Palm Beach Post]