Judge freezes surrogacy company's accounts as FBI investigates

A Texas judge has frozen the assets of a company holding surrogacy payments, while the FBI conduct an investigation.

Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) and owner Dominique Side are accused of mishandling funds destined for surrogacy payments. It was previously reported that several families had deposited money with SEAM to cover surrogacy expenses but were informed by Side that SEAM's operations were on hold due to legal action (see BioNews 1244).

Marianne Robak from law firm Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, who is representing surrogates who have not received payment, told Fox 26: 'Many of these families have struggled with infertility for years and this is yet another blow to their finances and emotional well-being.'

A judge in Harris County, Texas, issued a temporary restraining order, freezing the assets of SEAM, as well as other bank accounts belonging to Side and her business partner, Anthony Hall, which may hold escrow funds. The order also halts the operations of a new entity recently formed by Hall.

The FBI has launched a federal investigation, according to the Houston Police Department, and is currently searching for other potential victims. Side has not responded to questions from the media or users of her service.

Investigations so far suggest that rather than keeping the funds for each set of intended parents and their surrogates in a separate account, a Google Docs spreadsheet was used for tracking the funds, without any connection to specific bank accounts.

Lawyer Lori Hood, also from Shackelford, McKinley & Norton, reviewed SEAM's bank statements and tax filings, revealing unexpected transactions for a non-profit organisation. She said: 'The escrow account showed more money movement than what reached the surrogates for their expenses. And the tax returns indicate an unusual amount of generated revenue'.

'We were able through that [lawsuit] to freeze bank accounts as we find them. So that hopefully one of these accounts has money in it, so we can start paying the surrogates,' added Hood.

Creditors who claim to have lent money to SEAM using the escrow funds as security have also filed lawsuits against the company after not receiving payments, further complicating the case.