For Francisco Egea Cerezuela and his wife, the answer to their dream of having a child was found on the Internet: a Beverly Hills surrogacy and egg-donor agency called B Coming.
Surrogacy is illegal in their country, Spain, as it is throughout much of the world. In 2007, they got a baby in the United States -- but at a high cost.
B Coming was supposed to use a $90,000 deposit to compensate the surrogate and the doctor, the couple claimed in a lawsuit filed in December. They allege the agency kept most of the money, forcing them to pay tens of thousands more out of pocket.
Other B Coming customers have similar stories. A man from Taiwan, who claimed the agency pocketed more than $100,000, won a judgment last year after the firm's owner, Rosa Balcazar, failed to appear in court. And a Woodland Hills lawyer said he has been hired by six couples from Spain and another from North Carolina who claim they paid more than $500,000 collectively for services they never received. None wound up with children.
Two of the Spanish clients complained to Beverly Hills police late last year, alleging fraud and theft. The department is trying to determine whether it has jurisdiction, a police spokesman said.
Reached by phone Wednesday, Balcazar, 41, denied any wrongdoing. She said she has not committed fraud or theft, but instead is the target of couples who became frustrated after their surrogates failed to become pregnant.
"Every case is different -- and I feel bad -- but services were provided." As a result, she said, she can't offer full refunds.
The complaints about B Coming follow recent allegations that a Modesto surrogacy agency, SurroGenesis, had failed to account for more than $2 million in customers' money. The claims are the latest flare-up in a scandal-prone business fueled by the cash -- and sometimes desperation -- of childless couples.
Surrogacy agencies are perhaps the least regulated aspect of a loosely overseen multibillion-dollar industry.
"If you're going to sell hot dogs, you need a permit," said Steve Litz, director of Surrogate Mothers Inc. in Monrovia, Ind., an agency responsible for more than 400 births. "If you're going to run a surrogacy agency out of your garage, you don't."
Although no one keeps a precise count, Southern California is thought to be the center of the surrogacy and egg-donor industries because the state's laws are favorable to parents who want to use surrogates.
