PHOENIX (CN) - A human egg donation company used a nonexistent or unwilling donor to defraud a woman of $19,500 and used her money to pay off other prospective parents or donors it had cheated, the woman claims in court.
Hoan Nguyen sued Allison Layton and Miracles Egg Donation, a suspended California corporation, in Maricopa County Court.
Nguyen says in the lawsuit that she contacted Miracles in 2011 after searching online to find an egg donor, and spoke to Layton. She says Layton provided her with access to the company's egg donor list on its website.
Nguyen says she picked a donor - "Amy" - whom Layton claimed was in high demand. Layton immediately sent her a contract to sign to secure Amy's eggs, Nguyen says in the complaint.
Nguyen says that after she signed the contract and paid a $2,500 deposit, Layton claimed she needed an additional $17,000 to "ensure that the donor did not donate her eggs elsewhere."
Layton told her she would hold the money in trust and would refund it if the donor backed out, according to the complaint.
Nguyen says she sent the second payment, then she tried to coordinate doctor's appointments with the donor, but was unable to contact her.
She claims in the lawsuit that the donor was either a fake person "or was not actually interested in donating eggs and Layton had simply used the donor's profile to defraud plaintiff out of $19,500."
The complaint states: "Layton used the money to pay off other vulnerable prospective parents that she had defrauded and/or used the money to pay surrogates that she had refused to pay previously."
Nguyen says she requested a refund and Layton agreed to return the money, but never did.
Nguyen seeks compensatory and punitive damages for fraud and breach of contract. She is represented by C. Adam Buck and Ben Himmelstein of the Frutkin Law Firm of Scottsdale.
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