Arcadia surrogacy mansion parents left years-long trail of red flags before child abuse case

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Set us as preferred In 2019, two years before Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang began amassing a family of more than 20 surrogate children, Zhang was accused of misdemeanor child abuse after leaving her then-8-year-old daughter in a hot car for hours.That case — detailed in a recent motion by prosecutors opposing bail for the couple and a spokesperson for the L.A.County Sheriff’s Department — could have affected their ability to engage in the surrogacy process, if a surrogacy firm conducted a diligent background check of the aspiring parents, according to two civil attorneys.But Xuan and Zhang, the attorneys said, were able to sidestep what few safeguards exist in the generally unregulated U.S.

surrogacy industry by creating their own firm, Mark Surrogacy Investments.While there are almost no rules governing who can and cannot acquire a child through the surrogacy process — which involves paying women to receive embryo transfers and carry the babies to term — independent firms still conduct due diligence on prospective clients and surrogates, according to Maya Shulman, a Calabasas-based surrogacy lawyer.

By launching their own firm, Xuan and Zhang were able to ensure no one looked into their backgrounds, Shulman said.“No respectable agency and no respectable attorney would have represented her,” Shulman said.A Sheriff’s Department spokesperson said the child left in the car was not seriously injured, and court records show Zhang entered into a diversionary plea agreement with L.A.County prosecutors, the terms of which were completed in 2023, allowing the case to be dismissed.

All records in the case are sealed.Last week, Xuan, 66, and Zhang, 39, appeared in court to answer charges in another child abuse case.They stand accused of operating a “house of horrors” at their nine-room Arcadia mansion, allegedly su...