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Los Angeles County prosecutors accused a Chinese couple in Arcadia of exploiting 26 children in the name of surrogacy. He monitored the entire process in the mansion and suspected abuse, and found the child’s ashes and vast wealth.
arcadia 26 Baby SurrogacySugar The couple Juan Guojun and his wife Sylvia Zhang appeared in court at Pasadena High Court on the 16th. Prosecutors revealed more details about how they treated their surrogate children, including real-time monitoring with dynamic sensor surveillance cameras. Xuan walked “like a warden” through the room filled with rows of sleeping children, patrolling back and forth with a flashlight. From hoping for a miracle baby to being suspected of prison-style child abuse, is this “making a mountain of talk” due to cultural differences between China and the United States and tensions between China and the United States? Or is it the cruel reality of children being exploited as tools?
Los Angeles County District Attorney Mackenzie Temouri spent about 40 minutes in court on the 16th describing the details of the case. He said both defendants used independent and outside surrogacy agencies to recruit surrogate mothers across borders and states. Under the pretext of “looking for a miracle baby and expanding the family”, the defendant misled and deceived several surrogate mothers into signing contracts, resulting in the birth of 26 children. Police found in the mansion that 32 motion sensor surveillance cameras were installed throughout the house, and all rooms were under real-time monitoring on large TV screens in the central office. She had watched the video, but had to mute it because children could be heard screaming in the video.
When police searched the home more than a week ago, they also found an urn mailed to the home of a surrogate baby who had died in Florida shortly after birth. Xuan and Zhang never opened mail packages and appeared “indifferent” to their children’s well-being. After these children were taken and placed by the Department of Children and Family Services last year, they were “afraid to go to the park because they had never been outside, they had never been to school, they had never been to a playground, they had never been to a restaurant, and they were living in this house and watching violence happen everywhere inside the house. They were also learning math, Chinese and English almost around the clock, and no matter what their age, they had to sit straight and concentrate. Had to do otherwise he would have been beaten.”
Temouri said that according to relevant video footage obtained by the prosecution, Xuan walked through a room filled with rows of sleeping children and looked back and forth with a flashlight “like a prison warden”. When one child woke up, Juan allegedly hit the other child with the back of his hand and ordered him to continue sleeping.
Regarding the relationship between Xuan and Zhang, Zhang’s defense attorney said he believed the two had some kind of work assistant or employer-employee relationship. His client is a full-time real estate agent, has a real estate license, and has handled real estate transactions for Xuan. This is its identity, it is more than an employer-employee arrangement. He never contacted surrogate mothers and did not prevent or intimidate any surrogate mothers from testifying. When the two first appeared in court, they had one attorney, but in this recent court appearance, they had separate defense attorneys.
However, Temouri said Zhang was accused of child abuse in 2019 and that he left his daughter, Helen, in the car for several hours. Helen called 911 to call the police. After the incident, Zhang fled to China. Ultimately the case was closed with an inconclusive investigation and Helen also remained in China for a long time. Additionally, translations of prison phone recordings in recent days show that Juan has been actively transferring funds to discuss raising the set bail, mortgaging properties, and paying Zhang’s legal fees. In addition to discussing money transfers during the phone call, they also discussed digital assets worth more than 50 million yuan. Both the defendants live in a 10,287 square feet mansion in Asia. Xuan has vast financial resources. Between 2023 and 2025, the transaction volume of related accounts reached 250 million yuan. In 2025, his net worth exceeded 100 million yuan, including property worth 72 million yuan, investment account of 5 million yuan, jade statues worth 8 million to 9 million yuan, unopened wine worth more than 1 million yuan, and a large amount of cash.
Summary FAQ
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Prosecutors claimed the two recruited mothers across state and international borders through independent and outside surrogacy agencies, and misled each other into signing contracts based on expanding their families and looking for miracle babies, ultimately giving birth to 26 children.
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Police said there are 32 motion-sensing cameras in the house, and all rooms are under real-time surveillance. The child almost never went out, never went to school, park or restaurant. He has been living in the house for a long time and is suspected of being subjected to corporal punishment.
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The police found the urn of a surrogate child who had died in infancy, and the prosecutor claimed he was transferring money, handling bail and legal fees. The total amount of relevant accounts and assets shows that he had considerable financial resources.
