U.S. surrogate for Chinese billionaire says she trusted agency, as questions arise

A surrogate carrying a child for Chinese billionaire Xu Bo — a man reported to have over 100 children — said she trusted her agency to "protect surrogates." Now, the business practices of California-based Patriot Conceptions and its CEO are facing fresh scrutiny.

Stanford University's Hoover Institution, where the company's CEO Haotian Bai formerly served as a fellow, cut ties with him last week, shortly after a CBS Sunday Morning investigation featuring the surrogate put a spotlight on loopholes and accusations of questionable practices in the commercial surrogacy industry. A subsequent story in the New York Post looked at Bai's background. 

"He is no longer affiliated with the Hoover Institution," the institution said on its website. "In light of recent media reports, it is clear that Mr. Bai misled the Institution on the nature of his businesses."

During his 2024-25 fellowship, Bai focused on veterans' access to in vitro fertilization. He frequently advertises his surrogacy agency as veteran-founded. 

Bai said in a 2019 court declaration, filed in a dispute with a former business partner, that he served in the U.S. Army in Afghanistan until 2017 and that he'd been diagnosed with PTSD.

A U.S. Army spokesperson confirmed to CBS News that Bai served as a chemical operations specialist from November 2013 to October 2017. However, the Army said that while he assisted with units that were preparing to deploy, he never deployed himself.

"He had no deployments and left the Army in the rank of specialist," said Christopher Surridge, a U.S. Army spokesperson.

After leaving the military, Bai co-founded another surrogacy agency in 2018. He ended up in a court battle with his co-founder a year later. The case was later voluntarily dismissed. Bai founded Patriot Conceptions in 2019

The Hoover Institution said it would conduct "a full internal review" of the application process for the Veteran Fellowship Program. CBS News reached out to Patriot Conceptions, and in a written response, Bai said he went through "a normal application process as a U.S. Army veteran for a Hoover Institution fellowship in 2023 and was selected through what appeared to be their usual channels and protocols to be a fellow." The statement said there was "no point at which Mr Bai 'misled' the Hoover Institution about his research or his intentions."

Bai's surrogacy agency caters to international clients, who make up 40% of its business — with an emphasis on intended parents from China. 

The U.S. is the only developed country where commercial surrogacy is widely legal, attracting foreign nationals who don't have the option in their country, with a large percentage coming from China.

It remains unclear how Patriot Conceptions initially agreed to provide a surrogate for Xu Bo, a video game executive who is well known in China. Patriot Conceptions partnered with a global surrogacy agency representing the intended father. 

The surrogate, whom CBS News is calling Judy to protect her identity, said she first learned who the intended parent was on the night before her embryo transfer in April, after traveling from her home state to California for the procedure.

Documents obtained by CBS News showed that the intended father was Xu, who has boasted online about his desire to father large numbers of children. 

A single mother, Judy said she decided to become a surrogate because she wanted to use the payment to create a better life for herself and her daughter. She said she also liked the idea of helping someone build a family — but added that she never imagined it would be that large. 

"You don't think to ask … 'Oh, do they have, like, over 100 babies already?'" she said in an interview.

In an earlier phone conversation with CBS News, Bai asked whether Judy's surrogacy records had been offered for sale on the dark web. CBS News obtained the records from whistleblowers concerned about irregularities in the surrogacy industry.

During the call, Bai dismissed media reports detailing the scale of Xu's family.

Xu, a reclusive billionaire who is rarely seen in public, made his fortune as founder of Guangzhou Duoyi Network, one of China's largest mobile game companies. The Wall Street Journal first reported on the number of children Xu is said to have fathered via surrogacy, as well as other Chinese billionaires building mega-families.

His company said in a December statement that Xu had 12 children born in the U.S. via surrogates, but acknowledged a larger overall total: "Regarding the rumors about the number of children … the actual number is only a little over one hundred."

Six months later, Xu posted a photo of young children seated in rows alongside a statement: "Mr. Xu Bo believes in the philosophy that more children bring more blessings, and he wishes for all his words and actions to benefit the long-term development of the Chinese nation."

CBS News reached out to Xu directly and through representatives but received no response. 

Addressing media coverage in a recent statement, Xu wrote: "Overseas media outlets have previously produced numerous misinterpretations and unfriendly reports about China, as a Chinese citizen safeguarding China's interests, Xu stands on the same side as the Chinese government and avoids granting interviews to overseas media unless necessary."

Following the publication of the CBS News report on Sept. 13, Patriot Conceptions said the firm's employees had encouraged Judy to terminate her contract after public reports about the size of Xu's family surfaced in December. 

A statement issued by Patriot Conceptions stated that "it did not know the wider scale of Xu's family described in later public reporting." Patriot Conceptions declined to be interviewed on camera. 

Judy disputed this account, stating that the agency "never" advised her to terminate the agreement. She said agency representatives visited her hotel room following her embryo transfer in April to bring her "flowers and snacks."

Judy said the agency told her after she matched that the intended parent was a "single father looking to expand their family." 

"I felt like I trusted this agency to kind of protect surrogates and match them with people with good intentions," Judy said.

Judy said when the agency mentioned a large family, she was picturing something from a movie.

"'[The] Sound of Music.' Do you know that movie? My immediate first thought, 'Oh, that would be really cute,' like a family of 10 kids," she said.