SurrogacyIndia’s focus is in fertility, not infertility. Making babies, is possible. ‘Possible’ is what we believe in.

Pages

Friday, February 20, 2015

Star woman pleads guilty to California surrogacy services fraud

A Star woman who owns a Glendora, Calif., egg donation and surrogacy company pleaded guilty late Thursday afternoon to a federal wire fraud charge and admitted defrauding would-be parents, egg donors and surrogates over the course of more than three years, Idaho’s U.S. Attorney’s Office reports.

Allison Layton, 38, who lived in the San Gabriel Valley during the course of the scheme, owned and operated Miracles Egg Donation and sometimes used the name Allison Jarvie, according to a Thursday evening news release.

Layton faces up to 20 years in federal prison when she is sentenced in California on May 28.

Between August 2008 and January 2012, would-be parents paid thousands of dollars for egg donation and surrogacy services that Miracles promised to coordinate. Layton took money – often tens of thousands of dollars – from the intended parents. But, instead of putting the funds into escrow accounts to be withdrawn only for certain costs related to the surrogacy or egg donation, she used the money for her own personal expenses or to cover unpaid costs related to other clients, according to the news release.

As a result, more than 40 victims lost more than $270,000, the U.S. Attorney’s Office reports. Egg donors, surrogates, attorneys and others often were not paid for all the services they provided and intended parents often did not receive all the services for which they had paid. At least one investor in Miracles also lost money, the news release said.

The investigation into Layton was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Sources: http://www.idahostatesman.com/2015/02/19/3653833/star-woman-pleads-guilty-to-california.html

No comments: