Lawsuit alleges Houston-based escrow company stole millions of dollars from families seeking surrogates – Houston Public Media

A Harris County lawsuit alleges that a reputable escrow company stole millions of dollars from intended parents to pay for surrogate medical expenses.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation is seeking victims of Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, a Houston-based limited liability company, following the lawsuit and allegations from other clients.

Marieke Slik, a woman who filed the lawsuit against the company, said she and her husband deposited more than $60,000 into an escrow account to pay for their surrogate’s medical expenses.

But that money never arrived.

Surrogacy escrow management companies are a typical element of a surrogacy arrangement. The intended parents will deposit thousands of dollars to pay for the surrogate mother’s medical expenses into an account managed by the company.

Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, acting as a third party, was responsible for the safekeeping and disbursement of the money in accordance with the terms of the surrogacy agreement.

Lori Hood, an attorney representing Slik, said Slik has no reason to be skeptical about the proceedings.

“My client did everything right,” Hood said. “It was a contract. He trusted this company which had been in business for several years. There was no indication that there would be any problems. »

But Slik, who never received a refund to his account, and other customers of the escrow company began to raise eyebrows when they received a suspicious email.

“We are resolving some significant issues with our bank that have impacted our payment processing over the past month,” management company owner Dominique Side said in an email to clients earlier this month.

Social media accounts and websites associated with Side and its escrow company have since been deleted, and Hood said clients are working to find alternative solutions to pay their surrogates’ medical bills.

Clients were connected to the escrow company through surrogate companies that matched intended parents with surrogate mothers. The company has been in business for more than 10 years.

The lawsuit claims Side defrauded his clients by “luring them into a fiduciary relationship in order to steal their escrow funds.”

It’s an industry that has limited regulations in Texas, unlike similar third-party financial arrangement companies, but escrow companies are in place to keep both parties under a mutual contract, a safety barrier for intended parents and their surrogates, Hood said.

“If you are an escrow agent, you have the highest legal duty to ensure that money is protected,” she said.

According to court documents, Side’s business partner, Anthony Hall, created a new escrow company in March that was traced to the same address as Surrogacy Escrow Account Management and appeared to be operated by SEAM.

“After being informed and convinced, at that time, SEAM and Dominique had transferred the clients’ escrow funds to a non-Capital One account in the name of Life Escrow, LLC,” according to court documents.

A Harris County judge has since granted a temporary restraining order to freeze all of the company’s assets and bank accounts.

Now, hundreds of the company’s victims are scrambling to recover the money needed to pay for costly medical bills. A Facebook group bringing together SEAM customers was formed on June 13 and already has nearly 800 members.

“All parents are responsible for payments under the contract,” Hood said. “They still have to pay, and the parents are now trying to find a plan B. Surrogacy is not cheap. Many took out a second loan.

“Babies will be born,” she said.