Maryland Attorney General Brian Frosh announced Wednesday, that his Consumer Protection Division issued a Final Order against Greg Blosser and his Annapolis-based company, The Surrogacy Group, for violating the Consumer Protection Act when it sold surrogacy services to consumers for tens of thousands of dollars, but did not provide the promised services.
Surrogacy is an arrangement whereby a woman, who acts as a gestational carrier, agrees to become pregnant, carry the pregnancy to term, and give birth to the child for another person who ultimately becomes the parent of the newborn child. Intended parents sometimes seek to have children through a gestational carrier when pregnancy is medically impossible or when pregnancy risks are unacceptable.
The Surrogacy Group charged fees of generally between $12,000 and $25,000 for services, followed by additional amounts that were supposed to be held in escrow to pay for medical expenses and other costs incurred for its clients’ surrogates. The Division found that the 21 consumers who testified at the hearing were owed nearly $613,000 for payments they made to The Surrogacy Group for services that were not provided. In addition to financial harm, the Division found that 11 of the testifying consumers suffered emotional harm when they wasted years relying on The Surrogacy Group to help them have children.
After Attorney General Frosh obtained the preliminary injunction earlier this year, The Surrogacy Group’s owner was arrested by the FBI and charged with federal wire fraud. That case is still pending before the United States District Court for the District of Maryland.