Families have sued a Houston, Texas, woman for allegedly stealing money from an escrow fund intended for surrogate mothers (KTRK).
A Texas judge ordered a woman to pay a $1 million default judgment after she failed to respond to a lawsuit accusing her of stealing millions in funds that were supposed to pay for health care for surrogate mothers and using them to fund her aspiring rap career and other business ventures.
Dominique Side owned a company in Houston called Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM). Intended parents paid into an escrow account run by Side for medical expenses incurred by surrogate mothers. But that all came crashing down in June 2024 when SEAM suddenly ceased operations, “leaving the intended parents and their surrogates with nothing but unanswered questions,” according to the lawsuit.
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“Defendants” actions are nothing short of evil,” the lawsuit, filed last year in Harris County District Court, said.
The complaint alleges Side and other defendants stole more than $16 million from some 800 families throughout the country, though not all of them are part of the lawsuit. They are suing for breach of contract and fraud by nondisclosure, among other claims.
From the suit:
Bank records show that Dominique transferred more than $2.2 Million of the Intended Parents’ escrow funds to bankroll her music career as “Dom,” a racy rap and R&B singer and music producer. The escrow funds were used to create Dom’s music videos and social media content. The escrow funds to fund Dominique’s lavish trips all over the world and to purchase designer clothing and luxury vehicles. Dominique even used the escrow funds to pay for her membership to the Soho House, which is an exclusive club for celebrities in the music industry. Dominique’s social media accounts have been cluttered with videos of her showcasing her expensive lifestyle. She, of course, never told Dom’s social media ‘followers’ that everything she had was because she stole money from innocent families that she had conned into trusting her.
Nearly 40 families filed the lawsuit shortly after Side’s company shuttered. Some of her co-defendants have responded to the suit, but Side never did, per records. On July 15, the judge issued the summary judgment of more than $1 million.
However, because some of the other defendants did respond to the lawsuit, the families will have to wait for the rest of the case to play out in court before receiving any of that money. Plaintiff attorney Marianne Robak told local ABC affiliate KTRK that she was able to freeze some of Side’s assets and real estate. Once all is said and done, Robak said she expected the families would receive $1.7 million.
“Once these judgments become final, we will be able to go after those assets, liquidate them, and help these families become whole,” she told the TV station.
While it has been a long process with more work to come, Robak said the summary judgment is a big victory for families.
“It’s the closure of one chapter of a many-chapter, volumed book,” Robak told NBC affiliate KPRC.
Robak said while the surrogates did not receive funds for their medical care, many did deliver their babies for the intended parents.
One of those families was Cindi Bi of California.
“We lost about $45,000 because our surrogate was only paid for one month,” she told Bay Area affiliate KGO last year.
Bi and her partner did have their child — named Mira — delivered last year.
Families were flabbergasted as to why someone would take advantage of vulnerable people looking to have children through surrogacy.
“How does someone, like, take advantage of a community that is already so vulnerable, so emotionally, financially stretched already? Like, it’s just — it’s sick,” Shannon Willardson of Idaho, who was also a SEAM client, told KGO.
Meanwhile, the FBI is investigating to see if criminal charges are warranted. They set up an online form for potential victims to fill out.
A spokesperson for the agency told KPRC on Tuesday that the investigation remains ongoing.
