Intended parents fear that their surrogacy funds are lost

A US couple fear they have lost tens of thousands of dollars after their surrogacy escrow firm refused payments to their surrogate.

Intended parents Kelly and Daniel Palladino from Sarasota, Florida, deposited over US $60,000 with Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) based in Houston, Texas to cover expenses and payments for their surrogate. However, when the surrogate attempted to draw funds from the account, they were informed that due to legal action all operations had been put on hold.

'We got a call from our agency, the surrogacy agency, just to let us know that our surrogate hadn't received payments', Kelly Palladino told Fox 13 News.

She added that Dominique Side, the owner and director of SEAM originally emailed her on 12 June, communicating that the company had experienced fraudulent transactions, leading to accounts being frozen. The email claimed that new accounts had been established and payment services would be restored, but two days later, they were informed that all operations were halted, and SEAM could not provide further information.

Amid everything, the Palladinos recently found out their surrogate is pregnant.

Andrew Bluebond, of Bluebond Law in Houston is representing another couple who deposited thousands of dollars with SEAM. He told Fox 26 Houston that his investigations suggest that the money held by SEAM was not held in separate accounts for each set of intended parents and their surrogate, as it should have been:

'They were not in individual accounts for them and it's not even clear they were in any kind of meaningful order,' he told ABC7.

ABC7 reported on a civil case against SEAM from 2022 for not paying property taxes, for which Side never appeared in court. Moreover, Bluebond mentioned a lawsuit filed in New York by one of Side's creditors, showing they loaned her more than $600,000 at a high interest rate, and that she owes close to $1,000,000.

These two families are not the only ones affected. Kelly Palladino is in a Facebook group called 'SEAM Breach' that she said has almost 700 members. Bluebond estimates that 'millions of dollars that could be tied up here or lost.'

'A lot of us have health issues. We've had miscarriages. We've been heartbroken,' said Kelly Palladino. 'We have dreams to have a family and this woman right now has stolen more than just that money.'