Mom of disgraced surrogacy firm owner accused of siphoning off millions DEFENDS her - as childless couples speak out

The mother of a disgraced millionaire surrogacy boss accused of siphoning off millions of dollars from her childless clients has defended her daughter.

Caron Parks-Hinton insisted her daughter Dominique Side 'has a conscience' as she denied the allegations against her.

Side is accused of bilking couples out of $10 million worth of funds given to her Houston-based company Surrogacy Escrow Account Management (SEAM) and spending the money on a lavish lifestyle and her budding rap career.

At least 23 couples are suing Side, but investigators fear hundreds may have lost out in a worldwide fraud, with victims reported from as far afield as Egypt, China, and France.

But her mother maintains that her daughter is 'struggling' since her company shut down amid an FBI probe.

'She's having a very hard time,' Parks-Hinton told ABC13. 'Because of the type of person she is. She has a conscience.'

When pressed on whether she believes her daughter deliberately funneled money out of the escrow account, she emphatically stated, 'No, I don't'.

It comes as heartbroken couples shared their anguish after they claim they were left high and dry by Side's alleged antics.

'We sent the money and she walked away with it,' said Chris Perkins Yans, who is now working overtime alongside his husband to pay their surrogate after they claim $71,000 disappeared.

New York City new mom Laura Daniels said she was left scrambling to find $10,000 to pay her surrogate after her funds vanished.

'It's just, it's been so awful and it was occupying so much of my time,' Daniels said. 'I think I smile to keep from crying.'

Kelly Palladino opted for surrogacy after struggling to conceive because of multiple autoimmune diseases.

She and husband Daniel from Sarasota in Florida found a surrogate last fall and deposited $60,000 after arranging to pay her through Side's company.

But it was little more than a month before the surrogate alerted them that the payments had stopped.

Kelly said that Side repeatedly made excuses before refusing to take their calls.

'We thought this would be a great way to build our family,' Kelly told Fox13.

'She did this knowing what we go through. It's not an easy process and what's coming out is just – I never would have thought.'

Arielle Mitton from Bellingham, Washington, had $38,000 in the account when payments to her surrogate in Indiana stopped in May.

'When people come to surrogacy, it's not a choice,' she said.

The FBI has launched an investigation and set up a website for potential victims while nearly 800 people have joined a Facebook group SEAM Breach set up to help victims.

In a 2022 interview with Voyage Houston, Side called herself a 'serial entrepreneur', and a 'mom to four incredible individuals'.

'One common thread runs through all my businesses: each is based firmly on a foundation of compassion,' she said. 'For others, for myself and for the planet.'

But the lawsuit claims that she used money intended for surrogates to finance her other businesses, along with $2.2 million to 'bankroll her music career as 'Dom,' a racy rap and R&B singer and music producer'.

'With every layer we peel back in this case, we discover more wickedness and greed,' said attorney Marianne Robak.

'All I can think about is how some of these defendants can sleep at night knowing they have taken millions of dollars from innocent people and, in some cases, ruined their victims' chances at having a family of their own. It makes me sick.'

Side, 44, filed for bankruptcy in 2003, and a court seized and sold land owned by SEAM in 2022 over unpaid property taxes.

A federal judge granted a temporary injunction to freeze her bank account and assets after she failed to appear for a hearing on Wednesday.