HOUSTON – A five-acre tract of undeveloped property in northeast Houston, covered in trees and overgrown vegetation, has been thrust into the middle of a worldwide surrogacy escrow company theft scandal after what an attorney calls a “forged” transfer of the property deed.
According to court filings, the property was bought in 2018 using money from intended parents around the world, who had deposited their cash into an escrow account with Houston-based Surrogacy Escrow Account Management, or SEAM, owned by Dominique Side.
The money from families hoping to grow should have been funding payments to their surrogates, but the payments suddenly stopped in mid-June, as some remained pregnant, when SEAM went through an apparent financial collapse.
The property initially got transferred to Side’s business partner Anthony Hall in mid-June, records show, and then on July 17, transferred again to a business associate, Helen Yancy.
“My client did not sign that deed. Period,” Hall’s attorney Victoria Broussard said Friday, defending him after KPRC 2′s story on the property transfer aired Wednesday night.
The property transfer happened despite a judge’s order that froze assets connected to SEAM, Side and Hall, including the piece of property.
When the transfer to Yancy was filed with the Harris County Clerk’s Office, Hall was in the middle of testifying in the 80th District Court at a previous court hearing related to SEAM, six floors away in the Harris County Civil Courthouse, according to the court filing.
Records show Hall and Side signed the transfer to Yancy.
“Do you believe that signature was forged?” KPRC 2′s Bryce Newberry asked Broussard.
“It was forged,” she said. “My client has not done anything wrong. He is innocent.”
KPRC 2 tracked down the notary public whose stamp shows on the deed. He is not being identified at this time but told reporter Bryce Newberry he’s only been involved in one deed transfer with Yancy, and it was months before the one in question. He couldn’t explain how his stamp may have been used again in the July deed.
KPRC 2 also went through real property records, which revealed other properties deeded to Yancy this year. Reached by phone, three different Harris County residents whose property are now in Yancy’s name told Newberry they don’t know Yancy and were not aware of a deed transfer.
According to the Texas Secretary of State’s Office, “The person for whom a notarization is performed must personally appear before the notary public at the time the notarization is performed.”
Yancy, reached by phone earlier this week, insisted that Side and Hall signed the deed.
“When did they sign it?” Newberry asked.
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember off the top of my head the exact date. But, yeah, if they say anything other than, they’re lies. So read the deed. Everything is there,” Yancy said. “The land was payment for my consulting services... I got them millions of dollars in loans.”
Yancy has now been named a defendant in the lawsuit as attorneys fight to get the property back in Hall’s name, as he has agreed to help make the situation right and block it from any future deed transfers. It could eventually potentially be sold as a way to repay victims.
The victims in the lawsuits stretch from the west coast to Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Each family is out tens of thousands of dollars that were supposed to help them have children of their own.
Side mismanaged their money, according to court filings, to fund a lavish lifestyle and bankroll her music career.
“We are deeply saddened by the negative experiences that the plaintiffs are going through. The evidence does show that my client did not have any intent to defraud the plaintiffs,” Broussard said of her client Hall.
Side filed an affidavit with the court, defending Hall and denying his involvement. Read Side in her own words below:
“I declare under penalty of perjury that Anthony Hall had no knowledge of the source of any funds used to invest in companies or projects he was connected to. He was not aware of any wrong-doing and was not involved in the movement of SEAM funds. Mr. Hall has not been implicated or questioned relative to the federal investigation. During the time I worked with Anthony Hall he was paid as a contractor for services rendered and/or as an employee depending on the company or project. Total annual revenue for Vgn Bae (music studio) was more than approximately $65,000 for 2021; $195,000 for 2022; $455,000 for 2023; $260,000 for Jan thru May 2024,” Side wrote in the affidavit filed Thursday evening.
Despite the filing, Side has not shown up for any of the civil proceedings in either of the cases pending against her. One case involves 36 families, represented by Marianne Robak, while the other is one family from Denton County, Texas, represented by Cody Dumas.
According to a new filing from Hall’s attorney, Side is the subject of a proffer with the FBI.
KPRC 2 legal analyst Brian Wice explained that means she could be in the process of cutting a plea deal for herself with the feds.
FBI Houston would not confirm that detail and the U.S. Attorney’s Office has not responded to a request for comment.
A spokesperson for the FBI continued encouraging any potential victims to submit a report online.
Another hearing in Robak’s civil case against is scheduled for Monday.