Dozens of couples have seen their dreams of parenthood shattered after an aspiring rapper looted millions of dollars intended for their surrogate mothers.
Twenty-three couples from across the United States are suing Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) after each of them lost up to $100,000 in one transaction. Trust stolen by owner Dominique Side.
But investigators fear hundreds of people may have lost money in a $10m global fraud, with victims hailing from as far away as Egypt, China and France.
Side is accused of using the money to fund a lavish lifestyle of designer clothes and lavish holidays, while buying a recording studio in a bid to become a music star.
“It’s devastating, it’s scary, you start to feel even more hopeless than before,” said SEAM client AnnaMaria Gallozzi, who chose surrogacy after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2019.
Dominique Side, owner of Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, is accused of scamming dozens of prospective parents to fund her rap ambitions.
AnnaMaria Gallozzi opted for surrogacy after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2019 and is ‘terrified’ that the alleged fraud may have cost her her sleep.
‘We are not rich, most people who turn to surrogacy at the moment are not.
“They are working multiple jobs to make this happen and now that money can disappear.”
Kelly Palladino opted for surrogacy after struggling to conceive due to multiple autoimmune diseases.
She and her husband Daniel, of Sarasota, Florida, found a surrogate last fall and put down $60,000 after agreeing to pay her through Side’s company.
But it was just over a month before the surrogate mother notified them that the payments had stopped.
Kelly said Side repeatedly made excuses before refusing to take her calls.
“We thought this would be a great way to build our family,” Kelly told Fox13.
“He did it knowing what we’re going through. It’s not an easy process and what’s coming out is just… I never would have imagined it.”
Arielle Mitton, of Bellingham, Washington, had $38,000 in the account when payments to her surrogate in Indiana stopped in May.
“When people turn to surrogacy, it’s not a choice,” she said.
Side allegedly funneled $2.2 million of her parents’ money to “fund her music career as ‘Dom,’ a swashbuckling rap and R&B singer and music producer.”
Arielle Mitton (left), of Bellingham, Washington, with surrogate Tena Doan, had $38,000 in the account when payments to her surrogate stopped in May.
Kelly Palladino, with her husband Daniel, opted for surrogacy after struggling to conceive due to multiple autoimmune diseases, but payments on her account stopped after a month.
“It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is my first choice. I want to do this.’ It’s like, ‘I don’t really have a choice.'”
“It seems premeditated to me,” he said. Click on Houston.
‘How can someone make millions of dollars disappear without some kind of plan?’
The FBI has launched an investigation and created a website for potential victims, while nearly 800 people have joined a SEAM Breach Facebook group set up to help victims.
In a 2022 interview with Voyage Houston, Side called herself a “serial entrepreneur” and a “mother of four amazing people.”
“There is a common thread running through all my companies: each one is firmly grounded in compassion,” she said. “For others, for myself and for the planet.”
But the suit claims she used money intended for surrogates to fund her other businesses, along with $2.2 million to “finance his music career as ‘Dom,’ a swashbuckling rap and R&B singer and music producer.”
“With every layer we peel back in this case, we uncover more evil and greed,” said attorney Marianne Robak.
“All I can think about is how some of these defendants can sleep at night knowing they have taken millions of dollars from innocent people and, in some cases, ruined their victims’ chances of having a family of their own. It makes me sick.”
Side, 44, filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and a court seized and sold land owned by SEAM in 2022 due to unpaid property taxes.
A federal judge granted a temporary injunction freezing his bank account and assets after he failed to appear at a hearing on Wednesday.
“It’s devastating, it’s scary, you start to feel even more hopeless than before,” said Gallozzi, of Austin, Texas.
‘Many people who go through this have had fertility problems for years and this was their last chance to become parents.’
Side appears to have deleted most of her social media accounts and people who send messages to her email address receive automated responses telling them she is subject to an “active investigation by federal authorities.”
He goes on to say that, on the advice of his attorney, he is “not allowed to answer any questions.”
“With every layer we peel back in this case, we uncover more evil and greed,” said attorney Marianne Robak, but she urged victims not to lose hope.
“She knows what she’s doing. She knows it’s wrong,” said surrogate mother Haley Rexroat of Iowa.
‘She knows she’s messing with a lot of people who don’t deserve it, who have already been through a lot to get to this point.’
Robak urged victims not to lose hope of recovering their lost money.
“When you spend money, you spend it on something, whether it’s an asset, a property or an investment,” he said.
‘Those funds can and will be traced and once they are traced and placed in a constructive trust for the benefit of creditors, they can be turned around in a recovery for them.’
But this is little consolation for those whose dreams of parenthood have been jeopardized.
“People are desperate right now,” Mitton said. “She just needs to do the right thing.”