North Texas couple, surrogate move forward despite surrogacy agency investigation
FRISCO – Thirteen years after a destination wedding in Jamaica, paradise has taken a pounding for Richard and Jessica Climers. The couple's journey to fertility has been overwhelming.
"We had five miscarriages total – two in the second trimester. The last one was 19 weeks," Jessica Climer said. "And, when we, when I lost her, I hemorrhaged, to the point where they said if I had lost any more blood, I probably wouldn't be here."
Richard Climer said he thought the dream of having children wasn't much to ask, but it has become significant to endure.
The social worker and his wife poured $80,000 into in vitro fertilization. They also invested in surrogacy – more than $45,000. That money is now gone.
"We've been with the agency for it'll be two years in December," Richard Climer said. "We've been saving money before that."
He said some of the money comes from his retirement. The 42-year-old Frisco man said he's working two jobs. His wife is an asset specialist for an ice cream distribution company.
"We scrimped, and we saved," Jessica Climer said. "But we don't live a very lavish lifestyle."
In June, a woman who the Climsers said they never met is alleged to have just the opposite off the sweat of parents' and surrogates' brows. The company, they said, came highly recommended.
"We currently represent 30 families," Marianne Robak said. "We are representing families from all over the world. Some families are from France, Italy – most of them are from the United States."
Robak works at Shakelford, McKinley, & Norton in Houston. She said Climer's story is similar to most of their clients, who are suing Dominique Sides, her company Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAMS), and Anthony Hall for breach of contract.
The Climers and other families allege Sides and her business entities withdrew money meant for surrogates for unauthorized use. The families are suing for breach of contract because they were supposed to hold that money to pay the women who were having babies.
"So what our forensic accountant was able to trace by looking through bank records and other documents is that about $2.2 million was taken from the SEAM's escrow account," Robak said.
According to Robak, the unauthorized funding was funneled for Sides' music projects as a rapper whose stage name is "Dom." The lawsuit said the money paid for music videos and social media content. Lawyers also allege Sides took lavish trips across the globe, bought designer clothes and paid for membership into exclusive music industry clubs.
The court document said about $4.9 million in escrow funds got used to finance or pay for equipment for Sides' music studio in Houston with her business partner. The suit said she even spent $21,000 monthly to rent a facility to house her music studio.
Robak said her clients want their money back. She said right after they filed the lawsuit near the end of June, Sides allegedly transferred all of her seized assets out of her name.
SEAM's website doesn't indicate any legal ruckus. Sides does not face criminal charges. The Climers said aside from transmissions that initially said their surrogate was not getting paid.
"Oh, we got a couple of emails from SEAM mentioning, there was fraudulent activity in some of the accounts, but not to worry," Jessica Climer said.
As they tried to find out what was happening, they received notices from the surrogacy management company stating that Sides was the target of an investigation.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation's Houston office has an online form for alleged victims to fill out. So far, "Dom" aka Sides has not made a public statement.
A judge granted the suing families a temporary restraining order against the business. Robak said they are back in court going after codefendants in the civil suit, but the Climers have not recouped any funds.
"I don't want to give up hope just because somebody did this to us," Richard Climer said." And I'm pretty tenacious and I'm going to continue. I'm going to work hard. I'm going to make that money back".
In the meantime, they are still going through the fertility process with a North Texas surrogate who may carry the couple's egg. Gender is not a big deal, but parenting is what they want most.
"That's all I really ever wanted to be was a mom," Jessica said. "She can't have my joy. I won't give it to her. She can't take that."