Houston surrogacy company investigated by FBI

HOUSTON — A Houston-based surrogacy escrow company is now the target of an FBI investigation.

On Wednesday, the FBI’s Houston Division announced it was “seeking to identify” potential victims of substitute escrow account management, or SEAM.

According to a recent lawsuit, the company is accused of stealing more than $10 million set aside in escrow accounts while waiting for parents for their gestational surrogates.

In the June 21 legal filing, attorneys claim SEAM and Dominique Side defrauded clients by luring them into a fiduciary relationship in order to steal their escrow funds. KHOU 11 has learned that Side was served with the complaint at her residence just outside of Houston.

Although the lawsuit was filed on behalf of one couple, there are hundreds of other victims, according to Houston attorney Lori Hood of the Shackleford Law Firm.

“My client’s money is missing, and I know of at least 200 other parents whose money is missing,” she said. “These are people from all over the world. »

A temporary restraining order sought in the lawsuit was granted by a Harris County judge, freezing SEAM’s assets.

Hood told KHOU 11 that his client’s surrogate mother, who was almost 30 weeks old, first raised concerns when SEAM stopped responding to her requests for reimbursement. In early June, its customers received two emails from SEAM reporting “significant issues” with Capitol One affecting payment processing.

However, on June 14, SEAM customers received another email from Side that said: “Due to legal proceedings, all operations have been suspended. At this time I am unable to provide further details on this matter.

Hood said his customers didn’t hear from SEAM after that. They then had more than $60,000 in their escrow account managed by SEAM.

“She had erased his information from all of his websites,” Hood said. “It’s horrible on so many levels, when it comes to babies and families wanting babies.”

According to the lawsuit, SEAM’s sudden collapse may indicate that Side was “diverting funds that had been tied up for years” in order to finance other businesses and a lavish lifestyle.

No matter what happened, Hood said all affected families just want their money back.

“If you have a business like this and you’ve made promises and something goes wrong, don’t hide, stand up and be responsible, be responsible,” she said.

If you have been a victim of SEAM or have relevant information, you can fill out this form on the FBI website.