In a closed Los Angeles courtroom, court clerks began to notice something that felt wrong. The same foreign name appeared again and again in confidential surrogacy filings. It was not a clerical mistake. It was the early sign of a phenomenon that few Americans realized was happening.

Ultra wealthy Chinese elites, including billionaires and senior executives, are quietly commissioning dozens and sometimes hundreds of U.S. born children through American surrogates. The children are born American citizens, cared for by nannies, and in many cases prepared for life abroad. It is a strategy so extreme that it sounds fictional, yet it is playing out inside U.S. hospitals, fertility clinics, and family courts.

The Case That Exposed the Pattern

The most striking example involves Xu Bo, a Chinese video game billionaire and founder of Duoyi Network. Court filings and reporting show that Xu sought parental rights to at least four unborn children in Los Angeles, only for court staff to discover he had already fathered or was in the process of fathering many more through U.S. surrogates.

When family court Judge Amy Pellman summoned Xu to a confidential hearing in the summer of 2023, he did not appear in person. Instead, he joined by video from China, speaking through an interpreter. According to people who attended the hearing, Xu explained that he hoped to have around 20 U.S. born children, preferably boys, whom he believed would one day take over his business interests.

Several of those children were already living in California under the care of nannies, waiting for paperwork to travel overseas. Xu told the judge he had not met them yet because work had been busy.

Judge Pellman was alarmed. People familiar with the hearing said she viewed surrogacy as a way to help people build families, not a system for mass production. She denied Xu’s request for parentage, a rare move in a process that is usually routine. The ruling left children he had paid to be born in legal limbo.

Xu’s company declined to answer detailed questions. A representative said only, “The boss does not accept interview requests from anyone for any purpose,” and claimed that much of the reporting was untrue without specifying what.

From Family Building to Industrial Scale

Xu is not an isolated case. Industry insiders describe a growing class of Chinese clients seeking unusually large numbers of children. Nathan Zhang, the founder and chief executive of IVF USA, said his earlier clients were often parents trying to bypass China’s former one child policy. More recently, he said, a new mindset has emerged.

“Elon Musk is becoming a role model now,” Zhang said. He described clients who want dozens or even hundreds of children to create what he called an “unstoppable family dynasty.”

One wealthy businessman asked for more than 200 children at once. Zhang said he refused the request. “I asked him directly, ‘How do you plan to raise all these children?’ He was speechless,” Zhang recalled.

Other professionals were less selective. A California surrogacy agency owner said he helped fill an order for 100 children spread across multiple agencies. A Los Angeles attorney said he assisted a Chinese billionaire who had about 20 children through surrogacy in recent years.

Why the United States Is Central to the Plan

China bans domestic surrogacy, but its laws do not strictly prevent citizens from going abroad to do it. The United States offers permissive surrogacy laws, world class IVF clinics, and automatic citizenship for children born on U.S. soil under the 14th Amendment.

That citizenship is the central prize. Babies born in the United States are citizens from birth. No visa. No waiting list. No future application.

Between 2014 and 2019, the use of U.S. surrogacy by international parents quadrupled. Nearly 40 percent of surrogate IVF cycles involved foreign clients, and 41 percent of those parents were from China. Some parents never entered the country at all. Genetic material was shipped. Contracts were signed remotely. Babies were delivered and collected by professional caregivers.

Amanda Troxler, a Los Angeles surrogacy lawyer, said she once consulted with a Chinese parent seeking eight to ten surrogacies at once and asking for a discount. “I was like, ‘No, we’re not Costco,’” she said.

The Cost of a Citizenship Factory

Each child can cost up to $200,000 once surrogacy fees, IVF treatment, egg donors, legal work, and nanny services are included. Agencies typically earn $40,000 to $50,000 per surrogacy. Egg donors are often chosen for education or appearance and are paid between $6,000 and $7,500 per egg.

A sprawling ecosystem has emerged to serve this demand. Fertility clinics, law firms, surrogate agencies, newborn transport services, and full time nannies all play a role. Some investors are betting the market will keep growing.

Margaret Wang, chief executive of Rhea Fertility, described the trend as regulatory arbitrage. “The U.S. remains the destination for people who have the resources and need to go down that path,” she said.

What Happens to the Children

Many of the children live in California under nanny care while legal issues are resolved. Social media accounts linked to Xu show groups of children eating meals, playing, or reciting homework assignments in daycare like settings. In some videos, toddlers run toward the camera shouting “Daddy.”

Surrogacy industry groups recommend limiting parents to no more than two simultaneous surrogacies, citing emotional and logistical risks. But there is no central registry and little enforcement. Parents can work with multiple agencies without detection.

Joy Millan, a California agency owner, said she once learned a client had secretly arranged multiple surrogacies elsewhere. “When we contacted him saying this is your due date, the baby is on the way, he panicked and was like, ‘We’re already taking care of two babies,’” she said. “If you regret, there’s no way back.”

Pushback at Home and Abroad

The trend has sparked controversy in China as well. Liu Pengyu, a spokesman for the Chinese Embassy in the United States, said Chinese health authorities believe surrogacy can lead to “serious family and social ethical crisis.”

High profile scandals have fueled backlash. Chinese media criticized education executive Wang Huiwu after reports surfaced that he fathered 10 daughters through U.S. surrogacy, hoping they would one day marry powerful men. His company’s shares plunged amid public outrage.

In the United States, lawmakers are paying attention. In 2020, the State Department tightened rules aimed at birth tourism. In January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order denying automatic citizenship unless one parent is a citizen or permanent resident, a move now under Supreme Court review.

Senator Rick Scott introduced legislation to ban surrogacy in the United States for citizens of certain countries, including China. He cited a federal human trafficking investigation into a Chinese American couple with more than two dozen children born through surrogacy.

To some observers, this looks like one of the most insidious long term strategies imaginable. A quiet effort to manufacture American citizens at scale using wealth, technology, and legal loopholes.

Yet there is also a note of irony. Children do not always become what their parents intend. Dynasties fail. Loyalty cannot be engineered. A hundred U.S. born children raised by nannies may not grow into obedient heirs or geopolitical assets.

For now, courts, lawmakers, and regulators are scrambling to catch up. What began as an unusual courtroom anomaly now looks like a stress test of citizenship, ethics, and national boundaries.

Whether this experiment ends as a footnote of billionaire excess or a genuine national security concern remains an open question. What is clear is that the baby boom is real, expensive, and unfolding in plain sight.

ACZ Editor: This is a bit sick, but not unexpected from egomaniac billionaires.