Aspiring rapper Dominique Side accused of defrauding surrogacy clients, using funds for a lavish lifestyle. Victims across the globe sue Houston-based SEAM.
Bollywood Fever: Dozens of couples’ dreams of parenthood have been shattered after aspiring rapper Dominique Side allegedly misappropriated millions of dollars intended for their surrogates. Twenty-three couples from across the US are suing Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) after each lost up to $100,000 from a trust pilfered by owner Dominique Side. Investigators fear the worldwide fraud may have impacted hundreds, with victims reported from as far as Egypt, China, and France, amounting to a $10 million loss.
Side is accused of using the funds to finance a lavish lifestyle, including designer clothing, vacations, and purchasing a recording studio to pursue a music career. “It’s devastating, it’s terrifying, you start to feel even more hopeless than you did,” said SEAM client AnnaMaria Gallozzi, who turned to surrogacy after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2019. “We’re not rich; most people going through surrogacy right now are not.”
Kelly Palladino and her husband Daniel from Sarasota, Florida, deposited $60,000 with SEAM after arranging to pay their surrogate through Side’s company. However, payments stopped shortly after, and Side refused to take their calls. “We thought this would be a great way to build our family,” Kelly told Fox13.
Arielle Mitton from Bellingham, Washington, had $38,000 in her SEAM account when payments to her surrogate ceased in May. “When people come to surrogacy, it’s not a choice,” she said. “It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is my first choice. I want to do this.’ It’s like, ‘I don’t really have another option.'”
The FBI has launched an investigation and set up a website for potential victims. Nearly 800 people have joined a Facebook group, SEAM Breach, to support each other and seek justice. In a 2022 interview, Side described herself as a ‘serial entrepreneur’ based on a foundation of compassion. However, the lawsuit alleges that she diverted funds intended for surrogates to finance her businesses and music career as ‘Dom,’ a racy rap and R&B singer and producer.
Attorney Marianne Robak, representing the plaintiffs, expressed outrage: “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 at having a family of their own. It makes me sick.”
Side, 44, previously filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and SEAM’s land was seized in 2022 for unpaid property taxes. A federal judge has issued a temporary injunction to freeze her bank accounts and assets after she failed to appear for a hearing. Side appears to have deleted most of her social media accounts and is not responding to inquiries, citing an active federal investigation.
Victims are urged to remain hopeful about recovering their money. “Where money is spent, it is spent on something, whether it be an asset, whether it be property, whether it be an investment,” said Robak. “Those funds can be traced and will be traced.”
However, for those whose dreams of parenthood have been jeopardized, this is little consolation. “People are just desperate at this point,” Mitton said. “She just needs to do what’s right.”
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