FLORISSANT, Mo. — Two weeks ago, Ashley and Kwasi Oyirifi got an email. The Florissant, Missouri, couple, after years of struggling to start a family, were finally on their way.
The surrogate they had found to carry their baby was pregnant. And they had deposited tens of thousands of dollars with a Houston firm to safeguard the money that would be paid to her. Then came the note from the firm: “All operations have been placed on hold,” it read.
The Oyirifis called, but the phones were off. Social media was shut down. And payments, the couple realized, weren't being made.
They quickly discovered there could be hundreds of other families in the same position. Kwasi and Ashley Oyirifi pose with a sonogram of their daughter, who is being carried by a surrogate in Wisconsin, at their home in Florissant on Tuesday, June 25, 2024. Authorities in Houston have confirmed they are investigating Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, known as SEAM, after dozens of complaints.
"My phone hasn't stopped ringing," said Houston police Officer William Wright, who got his first call from a SEAM client June 16. Houston police Sgt. Chad Long, the supervisor of the department's financial crimes unit, said in an email Monday that more than 30 people had contacted them, and the FBI would be leading the investigation "due to the size and wide territory in which the victims are coming from.
" Madeline Sieren, a spokesperson for Missouri Attorney General Andrew Bailey’s office, said that it had re.
