Haiti Politic — September 20, 2026

As Joseph Félix Badio’s extradition to Florida draws renewed attention to his background, a claim circulating on social media asserts that Badio — described as a U.S. permanent resident who owned a home in New York — had the mortgage on that property “paid off after the killing” of President Jovenel Moïse in July 2021. Public property, deed, and mortgage records tell a different, more precise story.

The property

Public records identify a single-family residence , a hamlet in Rockland County, as belonging to Joseph Felix Badio and his wife. The home was built in 1963 and sits on a 0.34-acre lot, with 1,519 square feet of living space, four bedrooms, and three bathrooms. Ownership records list the property as owner-occupied, with the Badios holding the title for more than 20 years — consistent with a purchase date in the mid-2000s. As of a September 12, 2026 automated valuation update, the property’s estimated market value stood at $670,620, up 4.32% over the preceding year.

The 2005 purchase

According to the recorded deed, Joseph Felix Badio and his wife purchased the property from the sellers under a contract dated April 26, 2005, with the deed recorded on May 3, 2005. The sale price was $371,000. The transaction was structured as a Bargain and Sale Deed, with the buyers identified in county records as “Husband and Wife.”

The financing

Public mortgage records show the purchase was financed almost entirely through borrowed funds rather than a substantial cash down payment. Two loans were recorded simultaneously: a primary mortgage of $296,800 and a second mortgage of $74,200 — together accounting for the full $371,000 purchase price. Both loans were secured through Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac-conforming channels, with WMC Mortgage Corp. listed as lender on the primary note. That loan carried a 6.99% interest rate, an adjustable rate rider indexed to LIBOR with a semiannual adjustment frequency, and an original scheduled maturity date of May 1, 2035 — a standard 30-year term.

The default, and what came after

Here is where the public record directly speaks to the rumor. Loan-history data tied to the property shows the following sequence of recorded events:

  • April 26, 2005: Original loan balance recorded at $296,800.
  • November 12, 2014: A Notice of Default was filed against the loan, still reflecting the $296,800 balance.
  • April 22, 2016: A Notice of Rescission was recorded — meaning the prior default notice was formally withdrawn or reversed, a filing that typically follows a loan reinstatement, modification, or other resolution with the lender. This rescission was recorded more than five years before Moïse’s assassination in July 2021.
  • August 26, 2026: The most recent available data shows an estimated outstanding loan balance of $152,469.

That final figure is the crux of the matter. If the mortgage had in fact been “paid off,” the most recent record — pulled roughly a month before Badio’s extradition to the United States — would show a zero or near-zero balance, or a recorded satisfaction-of-mortgage filing closing out the loan. It shows neither. Instead, it shows a loan still active and still carrying more than $150,000 in unpaid principal as of late August 2026.

It’s possible the rumor stems from a conflation of two separate, real events on the public record: the 2014 default filing and its 2016 rescission — which resolved a foreclosure proceeding roughly five years before the assassination, not after it. Property and mortgage records available for this report do not show any full payoff of the loan at any point, including in the period following July 2021. This article cannot independently confirm or deny what specific testimony may have been given in the federal trial referenced in the circulating post, since court transcripts were not reviewed for this piece — but the underlying county and lender-reported mortgage data currently available does not support the claim that the mortgage was paid off after the killing.