Aggregated News

Image of coins spilling from glass jar

Image by Josh Appel from Unsplash

The dream of becoming parents is turning into a nightmare for hundreds of people caught up in a surrogacy money scandal.

Some of the individuals are facing infertility or medical challenges, seeing surrogacy as their hope to have, or grow, a family.

Each deposited tens of thousands of dollars with an escrow company in Texas to pay the costs of a surrogate carrying their child. But now that money may be gone, and the FBI has launched an inquiry seeking potential victims.

Six couples — from New Jersey, New York and as far away as the West Coast — shared a similar story of trusting a company accused of mishandling more than $10 million.

In their apartment on Roosevelt Island, Laura Daniels and Christopher Cheng are overjoyed to be new parents. For medical reasons, they relied on a surrogate to carry their son Koda. It’s a journey that cost a fortune. 

"We’re talking about their compensation, plus 50 percent, plus 100 percent depending on the agreement. So we’re talking about $100,000 sitting in this...