Xuan and Zhang operated a surrogacy network that raised 21 children, most born to different surrogate mothers, and allegedly subjected 15 of the 16 children living at the mansion to repeated physical abuse. Investigators uncovered three rooms labeled “learning centres,” 32 motion‑activated cameras, and surveillance footage showing nannies slapping and hitting the children, while Xuan himself was accused of striking a child and ordering harsher punishment.
The couple misled prospective surrogates by falsifying their family circumstances; one surrogate believed Zhang was a single woman struggling to conceive, while another was unaware of the 16 children already in the household when she was seven months pregnant. Prosecutors also allege the pair attempted to silence witnesses, instructing nannies to conceal injuries and lie about incidents.
Defender Mitchell Krems denied the allegations, claiming Xuan was unfairly targeted because of the family’s size and noting that Xuan dismissed the nanny involved in the two‑month‑old boy’s assault. Both men face maximum sentences of 17 years and four months (Xuan) and 11 years and eight months (Zhang), with a $20 million bail set for each, accompanied by home detention and contact restrictions.
All 21 children were removed from the couple’s custody after a July 2025 raid and are now in state care. They await trial in Pasadena, where the prosecution will seek to prove the systematic abuse and the illegal surrogacy scheme, while the defense argues the allegations are exaggerated.