The defendants later filed a motion to dismiss the case, arguing the woman had no sufficient basis for a lawsuit. The case is still pending.
Another five women, Stacy Raelyn King, Evelyn Senolos Areja, Kayla Elliott, Hallie Hernandez, and Vanity McGoveran, alleged similar experiences in a separate lawsuit filed in August against Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang. The suit alleged Zhang failed to disclose her and Xuan’s connections to the agency, and also the actual number of children they have had.
“Each Plaintiff was led to believe she was the only woman carrying for the couple, and that she was helping a family conceive a single, cherished child,” their complaint alleged.
The couple had also used another outside surrogacy agency – California-based Babytree Surrogacy. Patrick Yu, Babytree’s founder, told the BBC they were approached by Xuan in 2018.
Yu told the BBC that he was told by Xuan that he wanted to have a big family. They helped Xuan match with several women who delivered at least four babies.
“When we saw the news reports that he was under investigation, that was when I first realised he had so many children. We immediately stopped working with him,” said Yu.
One of the women he helped matched in 2024, however, was already pregnant when news about Walter’s injuries broke out in May last year. The authorities had placed their 21 children under protective custody while police investigated alleged child abuse.
Yu told the BBC he arranged a meeting for the couple and the then-newly pregnant surrogate. He described that the couple sounded very confident, reassuring the surrogate mother that they treat the children well. The woman decided to continue the journey and gave birth to a baby in early 2026.
There is no legal limit to the number of surrogacies an intended parent can request, neither is there any requirement to disclose such information, according to Dr Liang Yu, Vice Chair of the American Society for Reproductive Medicine’s Chinese Special Interest Group and Program Director of Reproductive Clinical Science at Old Dominion University.
Liang said that certain banks or agencies might have their own requirements, but it was not required by law. And a couple might also work with several different agencies at the same time without fully disclosing all of their information to each agency.
“This creates a grey area in the law and in industry regulations.”
Liang added that within that grey area she has seen many examples involving wealthy clients, not just Chinese ones. But because of privacy protections and confidentiality agreements signed with doctors and fertility clinics, most are not known to the public.
“In other words, this kind of behaviour (like Xuan) is not unprecedented.”
The BBC approached the lawyers representing Xuan and Zhang about the allegations. Mitchell Krems – who represents both – did not respond. Matt Koohanim, who represents Zhang, said the case would be addressed through appropriate legal channels.
