Nearly 2 dozen families claim owner of Houston surrogacy escrow company stole millions to fund lavish lifestyle
CNN
Nearly two dozen families are listed in a lawsuit accusing the owner of a Houston-based surrogacy escrow company of stealing millions of dollars from their accounts, intended to pay their surrogates and cover medical expenses, to fund her lavish lifestyle.
Nearly two dozen families are listed in a lawsuit accusing the owner of a Houston-based surrogacy escrow company of stealing millions of dollars from their accounts, intended to pay their surrogates and cover medical expenses, to fund her lavish lifestyle. The lawsuit claims that Surrogacy Escrow Account Management LLC, or SEAM, and its owner, Dominique Side, systemically misappropriated millions of escrow dollars, allegedly using the funds to enrich herself and fund side businesses – including a clothing line and a career as a rap and R&B singer and producer. The escrow funds also paid for Side’s “lavish trips all over the world,” designer clothing, luxury vehicles, real estate, and membership at the “Soho House,” a chain of private clubs, the filing alleges. The lawsuit was initially filed by one family last month, but 22 additional families across the country – as well as prospective parents in France and Italy – asked to join the lawsuit, the plaintiffs’ attorney announced Tuesday, claiming there are “hundreds more families” that have been victimized by SEAM’s conduct. The lawsuit alleges that Side and the other defendants “have lured families and their surrogates into entering into a fiduciary relationship with SEAM so they could steal their escrow funds” for their benefit. SEAM provides surrogacy escrow account management services to couples and women who have agreed to act as their surrogates. The company has an obligation as the intended parents’ escrow agent to hold escrow funds, review the expenses incurred by their surrogates and distribute payments to the surrogate, the lawsuit states.
FBI says it has disrupted major Chinese hacking operation that threatened US critical infrastructure
The FBI has used a court order to seize control of a network of hundreds of thousands of hacked internet routers and other devices that Chinese government-linked hackers were using to threaten critical infrastructure in the US and overseas, FBI Director Christopher Wray said Wednesday.
The Federal Reserve is preparing to cut interest rates for the first time in the Biden era after the White House spent the last three years grappling with Americans’ dissatisfaction with the cost of living, raising new questions about the health of the economy and the impact on voters at the ballot box.
Israeli officials notified the US that the country was going to carry out an operation in Lebanon on Tuesday but did not give any details about what they were planning, according to three sources familiar with the matter, including in a call between Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin and Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant early Tuesday morning.