The corporate press has finally stumbled onto a surrogacy pipeline that should have triggered alarm bells in Washington years ago.
An American mother says she agreed to carry a baby for what she believed was a single father, only to learn the intended parent was reportedly a reclusive Chinese billionaire.
The woman, identified by CBS News as Judy, responded to an Instagram advertisement offering $120,000 for becoming a surrogate.
A single mother raising a seven year old child, she was living with her father and hoped the payment would help her secure a home of her own.
According to CBS, the agency presented the intended parent as a single man who wanted to expand his family.
Leaked documents reportedly connected the pregnancy to Xu Bo, founder of the Chinese video game company Duoyi Network and the subject of mounting scrutiny over his reported use of American surrogates.
Judy signed with Patriot Conceptions, a California agency whose website promotes its military veteran roots.
CBS reported that the company lists Haotian Bai as its founder, though Judy says she was given precious little information about the man whose child she was carrying.
Hellbound and Down 