Texas judge freezes assets of surrogacy escrow owner

HOUSTON (WWSB) – On Wednesday, a judge in Houston, Texas ordered the assets of Dominique Side, the owner of Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, be frozen.

“It’s sad that she hasn’t said anything because we’re really vulnerable. You know, this process makes you vulnerable,” said Kelly Palladino, an intended parent from Sarasota who invested money into SEAM to have a baby.

Palladino and her husband put over $60,000 into SEAM and previously said that their carrier is now pregnant with the money most likely gone.

Texas-based attorney Marianne Robak is representing over 24 families who are in the same position as the Palladino’s. Those families claim that SEAM stole their money. According to court documents, the sole owner of SEAM is Dominique Side.

“Once those are put into a constructive trust by the court, then we will work towards recovery. Towards dispersing those funds to the intended parents,” said Robak.

Court documents listed the totals for some of the families represented by Robak, ranging anywhere from $30,000 to $100,000. The document also stated “for years, SEAM has been systematically misappropriating millions of intended parents’ escrow funds to wrongfully enrich Dominique and her business partners, Anthony Hall (”Hall”), Fredrick Denson (“Denson”), and Kevin Yancy (“Yancy”).

The documents carried on explaining one point with bank records “show that Dominique transferred more than $2.2 million of the intended parents’ escrow funds to bankroll her music career as “Dom,” a racy rap and R&B singer and music producer. The escrow funds were used to create Dom’s music videos and social media content. The escrow funds to fund Dominique’s lavish trips all over the world and to purchase designer clothing and luxury vehicles.”

“They were used for Dominique’s own life, to fund her lifestyle, to fund her businesses, and grow her businesses, and essentially to hide it from all of the intended families,” said Robak.

Side was not present in the courtroom, however her business partner Hall took the stand.

“She told me there were some issues with some of the funds,” said Hall. “For me, doing the right thing was making sure she owned and was accountable.”

Court documents showed three days after Side sent the final email to intended parents, June 14, 2024, that she could no longer provide comment due to an on-going legal issue, Hall became the sole owner of side’s business Vgn Bae Studios.

Documents also state three months prior to that, on March 2, 2024, “Hall formed a new escrow company called Life Escrow, LLC. Life Escrow, LLC’s principal place of business is located at the same exact business address as SEAM – the building owned by Defendant.”

It carried on explaining “Dominique may have transferred any escrow funds remaining in SEAM’s accounts as of June 14, 2024, if any, to bank accounts in the name of Life Escrow, LLC.”

Palladino previously explained with her carrier now pregnant, and the funds gone, it is going to be difficult.

“We’ll have to go into our 401k’s see what we can do. Work harder! Work more! and try and do what we can but its going to be hard,” said Palladino.

According to court documents, a trial date is set for the week of January 13, 2025.

The FBI posted last month online asking any potential victims of SEAM to come forward as part of an investigation.

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