Fertility Fraud Lawsuits Filed Against Physicians
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十月 12, 2020There is an update on a story we’ve been following involving The Surrogacy Group, an surrogacy agency based in Florida and Maryland. In a heart-breaking breach of trust, a group of intended parents and surrogates claimed the surrogacy agency hadn’t provided contracted-for services or paid surrogates as agreed. A civil lawsuit was settled for $2 million plus penalties and surrogacy services, although a criminal case was pending at the time we last checked in on this case.
On September 27, 2020, the owner of The Surrogacy Group, 38-year old Gregory Ray Blosser, pleaded guilty to federal wire fraud charges in relation to the case. The plea agreement states that from 2015 until he was arrested in 2019, Blosser solicited business from intended parents who opted for surrogacy through his agency, promising to hold the intended parents’ funds in escrow until released to pay surrogates for their expenses. However, he did not create separate escrow accounts nor were funds used to pay surrogates’ costs.
Instead, he commingled these funds with the operating accounts for the business, using the money to pay for business operations, to make business loan payments, and for other expenses not authorized in the agreements he’d entered into on behalf of his agency with intended parents. Intended parents ultimately ended up paying their surrogates’ expenses personally, after having already paid Blosser’s agency. 44 victims were impacted, with Blosser fraudulently obtaining and using more than $1.1 million of his victims’ money.
Blosser has not yet been sentenced, but he could face up to 20 years in prison at his sentencing hearing, scheduled for January 15, 2021.
This type of news story is heart-wrenching. It is a small comfort to see justice done and to see the agency owner held accountable, however that does not make up for the trauma and frustration the affected intended parents had to deal with.
At The Surrogacy Law Center, we work to protect the rights of intended parents who choose to create or add to their family via surrogacy. To learn more, contact us today