Seven Claim Adoption Agency Rolled Them

TAMPA (CN) - Couples trying to adopt children from Vietnam say the Little Pearls Adoptions Agency took $133,000 to "hold" children for them, then informed them it had a "license issue," and refuses to return the money. In the federal RICO complaint, the seven plaintiffs sued Debbie Fischer and Richard Feinberg, directors of Little Pearls, which formerly was known as "An Angelic Choice."

Little Pearls operates out of Tampa and South Pasadena, Fla., according to the complaint. The plaintiffs - three couples and a would-be mom - say the defendants took their money knowing that the adoptions couldn't be completed since the agency was not licensed.

They claim Little Pearls collected $133,000 in deposits, and then them a letter informing them about the "license issue," but claimed it would soon have a license.

Now the defendants refuse to return the deposits, according to the complaint.

The would-be parents claims Little Pearls "deceptively induced the plaintiffs into entering contracts to purchase adoptions services from them" and "encouraged [them] to send money immediately to 'hold' a child for adoption."

Little Pearls held itself out in ads "as being specialists in this area of adoptions of orphans from Vietnam," according to the complaint.

The plaintiffs seek punitive damages for fraud, breach of contract, and RICO violations.

They are represented by Sean Boynton.

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