This 2025 California scandal involves couple Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan (right), who operated a fraudulent surrogacy agency to secure over twenty babies. Their agency tricked surrogate mothers around the country into carrying their embryos by lying about the parents’ identities and their various motives.
The agency, called Mark Surrogacy, was registered to their Arcadia, California address. Located outside of Los Angeles, LAPD and welfare authorities raided the couple’s mansion (below) in May of 2025 after an infant of theirs was hospitalized with severe head trauma. During the raid, fifteen children were discovered in the home, and ultimately twenty one children were removed from Zhang and Xuan’s care. Some of the children in the mansion were living in appalling conditions, lacking medical care among other things. There was even evidence that the nannies had violently abused a minimum of one of the infants.
As for Zhang and Xuan, they were arrested and an investigation began for child endangerment and felony child abuse. Their business license for Mark Surrogacy was terminated as well.
The surrogate mothers were shocked to discover they were one of many women recruited not by an agency but by one corrupt couple to carry their children. The children birthed by these surrogate women were placed into California foster care while the FBI and local authorities investigated the scam. Several surrogate mothers have had to navigate complex, costly legal battles to regain custody of the children they delivered.
This case has inspired national outrage and has exposed the lack of oversight on commercial surrogacy agencies. Experts in these fields use this case now to advocate for stronger background checks, federal or state regulation in the commercial surrogacy industry, and more transparency in operations.