Aspiring rapper is accused of bilking 23 couples out of $6 MILLION in major surrogacy scam to fund her lavish lifestyle and love of fast cars

Dozens of couples have seen their dreams of becoming parents go up in smoke after an aspiring rapper stole millions of dollars meant for their surrogates.

Twenty-three U.S. couples are suing Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) after losing up to $100,000 each to a trust damaged by owner Dominique Side.

However, researchers fear that hundreds of people have lost money in a global $10 million fraud, with victims coming from countries as far away as Egypt, China and France.

Side is accused of using the money to fund an extravagant lifestyle involving designer clothes and lavish vacations, while simultaneously buying a recording studio in a bid to become a music star.

“It’s devastating, it’s terrifying, you start to feel even more hopeless than you already did,” said SEAM client AnnaMaria Gallozzi, who chose surrogacy after being diagnosed with stage four breast cancer in 2019.

‘We are not rich, and most of the people who get pregnant through surrogacy now are not either.

“They’ve had multiple jobs to make this happen and now the money may be gone.”

Kelly Palladino chose surrogacy after struggling to conceive due to multiple autoimmune diseases.

She and her husband Daniel, of Sarasota, Florida, found a surrogate mother last fall and put up $60,000 after arranging to pay through Side’s company.

But it wasn’t even a month before the surrogate informed them that the payments had stopped.

Kelly said Side repeatedly made excuses before refusing to take their calls.

“We thought this would be a great way to build our family,” Kelly told Fox13.

“She did this knowing what we go through. It’s not an easy process and what comes out is just – I never would have imagined it.”

Arielle Mitton of Bellingham, Washington, had $38,000 in the account when payments to her surrogate in Indiana stopped in May.

“When people choose surrogacy, it’s not a choice,” she said.

“It’s not like, ‘Oh, this is my first choice. I want to do this.’ It’s like, ‘I don’t really have another option.'”

“It feels to me like it was premeditated,” she said Click2Houston.

“How can someone make millions of dollars disappear without any plan?”

The FBI has launched an investigation and has a website for potential victims, while nearly 800 people have joined the Facebook group SEAM Breach, which was set up to help victims.

In a 2022 interview with Voyage Houston, Side called herself a “serial entrepreneur” and a “mother of four amazing people.”

“One common thread runs through all my businesses: Each is firmly based on a foundation of compassion,” she said. “For others, for myself, and for the planet.”

But the lawsuit alleges she used the money intended for surrogacy to fund her other businesses, along with $2.2 million to “fund her music career as ‘Dom,’ a racy rap and R&B singer and music producer.”

“With every layer we peel back in this case, we discover more evil and greed,” said attorney Marianne Robak.

“All I can think about is how some of these defendants can sleep at night knowing they took millions of dollars from innocent people and in some cases ruined their victims’ chances of having families of their own. It makes me sick.”

Side, 44, filed for bankruptcy in 2003 and in 2022, a court seized land owned by SEAM and sold it due to unpaid property taxes.

A federal judge has issued a temporary order freezing her bank account and assets after she failed to appear at Wednesday’s hearing.

“It’s horrible, it’s scary, you start to feel even more hopeless than you did before,” said Gallozzi, of Austin, Texas.

‘Many people who experience this have been struggling with fertility problems for years and this was their last chance to become a parent.’

Side appears to have deleted most of her social media accounts, and people who send messages to her email address are automatically notified that she is the subject of an “ongoing investigation by federal authorities.”

It further states that, on the advice of her attorney, she is “not permitted to respond to any questions.”

“She knows what she’s doing. She knows it’s wrong,” said surrogate Haley Rexroat of Iowa.

“She knows she’s getting a lot of people in trouble who don’t deserve it. They’ve been through so much to get to this point.”

Robak urged victims not to give up hope of getting their missing money back.

“When you spend money, you spend it on something, whether it’s an asset, a property or an investment,” she said.

“Those monies can be traced and will be traced. Once they are traced and placed in a constructive trust fund for the benefit of the creditors, they can be put back into a claim for them.”

But that’s little consolation for those whose dream of parenthood is in jeopardy.

“People are just desperate right now,” Mitton said. “She just needs to do the right thing.”