Imagine signing up to be a surrogate, thinking you’re helping a single parent start a cute family, only to find out later you’re carrying a child for a billionaire who reportedly has over 100 kids. Real talk: the vibes are totally off. That’s the reality for a surrogate identified as "Judy," who is now speaking out about her experience with the California-based agency, Patriot Conceptions.

The Fallout

The agency and its CEO, Haotian Bai, are currently under the microscope. Stanford’s Hoover Institution recently cut ties with Bai, citing that he misled them about his business operations during his 2024-25 fellowship. While Bai has frequently marketed his agency as "veteran-founded," an Army spokesperson confirmed that while he served as a chemical operations specialist, he never actually deployed to Afghanistan, despite previous claims he made in a 2019 court declaration.

The Billionaire Connection

Judy says she didn't know who she was carrying for until the night before her embryo transfer in April. The intended father is Xu Bo, a reclusive Chinese tech mogul. While Xu’s company admitted in a statement that he has over 100 children, he claims he’s just following a philosophy that "more children bring more blessings."

Patriot Conceptions claims they were in the dark about the true size of Xu’s family when they made the match and maintains they encouraged Judy to break the contract once the news broke. Judy isn't buying it. She says the agency never suggested she back out and even showed up to her hotel with flowers and snacks after the transfer.

Why it matters

This situation is highlighting a massive gray area in the U.S. surrogacy industry—the only developed nation where commercial surrogacy is widely legal. With international clients flooding in, the industry is facing questions about ethics, vetting, and whether these agencies are actually protecting the people doing the work or just prioritizing the bag. It’s giving major red flags, and the plot thickens as industry watchdogs start digging into how these global matches are actually made.