(Wall Street Journal) – A couple with ties to China say they wanted a big family. Surrogates who carried the children say they were deceived.

Local authorities removed the children from the homes, placed them in foster care, and called in the FBI.

The mansion, it turned out, was listed as the headquarters of Mark Surrogacy, which had arranged many of the children’s births and was managed by Silvia Zhang, the woman living there. Zhang said she was the mother of all the children.

The surrogates who carried some of the children said in interviews with The Wall Street Journal that Zhang deceived them about the family she was trying to have, and that they had spoken with federal agents in recent weeks. The investigation is focusing, they were told, on whether the couple was selling babies whose births the agency had arranged. (Read More)