More On Three Facing Federal Charges In Alleged Palm Beach County Flipping Scam

In Palm Beach County, Florida The Palm Beach Post reports on the criminal allegations facing Berry Louidort and Ralph Michel (also known as Ralph Duverneau), who are accused of putting together deals for two dozen homes in Palm Beach County, persuading banks to loan far more than the properties actually sold for, then pocketing the difference and letting many of the homes lapse into foreclosure; and Boca Raton mortgage broker Lauren Jasky who is accused of helping Louidort and Michel arrange the deals.

• There's Michel - a native of Haiti who, according to his attorney, can't read or write well enough to pass a U.S. citizenship test - collecting "assignment fees" of $650,000 and $600,000 on side-by-side homes in the Versailles development in Wellington.

• There's Louidort, also a native of Haiti, describing a scheme to buy 50 condos in Boynton Beach while stealing $4 million from lenders. He thinks he's talking to a willing accomplice. In fact, he's laying out the plot to an undercover FBI agent who captures the conversation on videotape.

• There are straw buyers, such as the part-time Publix cashier whose income on loan applications was inflated from $13,000 to $344,000 so she could qualify for $1.3 million in loans on a palatial home in a gated community in Boca Raton.

• There's Jasky saying she doesn't want to know the unsavory details of the loans she's shopping to lenders. Meanwhile, her mother is acting as the Realtor on some of the deals.

• And there are some of the world's most sophisticated financial institutions, including JPMorgan Chase and Bank of New York, making loans on these properties for twice what they were worth.

For the rest of the story, see 3 charged in mortgage scam called 'economic parasites'.

See also, U.S. Attorney Press Release: Palm Beach County Residents Charged With Mortgage Fraud.