A Texas surrogacy company is accused of stealing millions of dollars from prospective parents to fund the owner’s lavish lifestyle and musical ambitions.
Dominique Side, owner of a Houston surrogacy escrow business, siphoned an estimated $16 million to pay for designer clothes, luxury vehicles, lavish foreign travel, homes in Houston and New Orleans and membership in an exclusive celebrity club, according to a lawsuit filed this month in Harris County. Side also used money “to bankroll her music career” as “Dom,” a rap and R&B singer and music producer, the suit alleges.
Court filings describe how prospective parents were thrown into chaos when the company abruptly shut down without explanation in June. The lawsuit was filed on behalf of about 30 people, according to court filings.
The FBI is investigating the company, Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, and asked clients to contact it. It is not clear how many people are affected, but Houston-area news outlets have reported the number could reach several hundred. A Facebook group called “SEAM breach” has grown to nearly 800 members, the suit says.
Because surrogacy costs tens of thousands of dollars, agencies typically recommend parents hire a third-party escrow company to keep the money and make payments to surrogates, essentially acting as a go-between.
SEAM had operated as an escrow for nearly a decade without problems, according to reporting by the Houston Chronicle. But in early June, clients noticed payments were not being made. After sending a series of emails reassuring them the glitches were due to technical banking problems, Side sent a brief announcement on June 14 saying SEAM had ceased all business “due to legal action” and disappeared.
In June, a Harris County judge ordered SEAM’s assets frozen.
Neither the owner, Side, nor company representatives responded to phone calls or emails seeking comment Thursday. An email from The Dallas Morning News to the company triggered an automatic response. Citing an “active investigation by federal authorities,” Side said in the email that counsel has advised her not to respond to inquiries about the investigation.
“My sincerest apologies for the non-responsiveness,” the email said.
Court filings do not yet list an attorney for Side, and her social media accounts, once full of photos of her latest trips and appearances, have been scrubbed since the company closed.
The sudden shuttering of SEAM has left both prospective parents and surrogates trying to navigate extraordinarily difficult circumstances. Surrogates carrying a child who does not belong to them must figure out how to pay for prenatal care, the suit says. Some prospective parents have started GoFundMe campaigns to cover the expenses.
Last month, Chris and Katelyn Kettmann, whose surrogate was 22 weeks pregnant, told the Chronicle they had little financial cushion. “This has pretty much taken everything we have, plus what friends and family have given us,” Chris said. “We don’t know where the money will come from.”
Court documents detail how Side spent the money. Side used $2.2 million of the escrow funds to pay for her career as a singer and producer, including music videos, lavish trips, designer clothing and luxury vehicles, the suit says. She also used the funds to pay for membership to the Soho House, which describes itself as a “club for creatives” with locations around the world.
Escrow money also paid for real estate investments, documents say, including a $575,000 five-acre tract of land and $433,000 house in Houston and $300,000 for a custom house in New Orleans.
An additional $6.2 million of the parents’ money went to finance a vegan music production business called Vgn Bae Studios with Anthony Hall, a Houston-area musician.
Hall could not be reached for comment, but he told the Los Angeles Times in June that he was Side’s business partner in the music studio but not the surrogacy company.
“I wish I had answers,” Hall told the Times. “Everything was great until it wasn’t.”
In a 2022 article interview with Voyage Houston, Side said she owned a vegan supermarket in Houston and was launching a vegan luxury fashion brand.
“My aspirations have evolved with each new venture, but one common thread runs through all my businesses,” she told the publication. “Each is based firmly on a foundation of compassion — for others, for myself and for the planet.”