Dr. Jeffrey Steinberg, a fertility specialist in Encino, said agencies often send candidates who are obese or have a history of difficult pregnancies that make them unsuitable candidates. He rules them out, but the customer still gets the bill.
Steinberg became so frustrated with agencies sending unsuitable women that he began recruiting surrogates directly through online ads.
Dr. Mike Feinman, a fertility specialist at the Huntington Reproductive Center in Pasadena, said he recommends just a few well-known agencies to his patients.
"It's a buyer-beware situation," he said. "It is incredible how people are willing to place their trust in mom-and-pop operations."
Surrogates sometimes get stiffed by brokers as well.
On surromomsonline.com, a website for surrogates, one message board is called "Surrogacy community beware" and features passionate discussions of how to guard against dishonest brokers.
"These are often young women, nonaffluent, who don't have a lot of education or financial resources," said Kraffert, the dermatologist who sued Delp. The agencies "are leaving a trail of blood on both sides."
Even when suspect surrogacy brokers are exposed, they don't always disappear easily.
One broker facing a litany of fraud complaints closed his New Jersey agency, moved to Florida and reopened under a new name.
As Delp's case in Sacramento shows, even incarceration is no bar to business.
"Nothing would stop these people after criminal prosecution from being able to resurrect their company under a new name without anyone knowing," said Andrew Vorzimer, a Woodland Hills attorney who handles surrogacy deals.
Rosa Balcazar, owner of B Coming in Beverly Hills, has continued to operate even as former customers have filed two lawsuits against her; a health insurance company has sued her, alleging fraud; and the state has revoked her business license for failure to pay taxes. Balcazar has denied any wrongdoing.
Even as allegations hang over SurroGenesis, one employee told The Times she is planning to start new businesses and has registered a new website.
Patrick Johnson of Houston said he wired SurroGenesis $93,000. He had not yet selected a surrogate when he discovered that his money had disappeared.
A few days later, Johnson said, he received a phone call from a case manager offering her continued help.
All he had to do was send more money.
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alan.zarembo@latimes.com
kimi.yoshino@latimes.com
Times staff writers Rong-Gong Lin II and Jessica Garrison contributed to this report.
