Former Owner of San Diego Surrogacy Consulting Businesses Sentenced to Prison for Defrauding Clients

SAN DIEGO –Lillian Arielle Markowitz, former owner of three San Diego-based surrogacy consulting businesses, was sentenced in federal court today to 24 months in prison for stealing hundreds of thousands of dollars from her clients.

At today’s hearing, U.S. District Judge Todd W. Robinson also ordered Markowitz to pay $389,142.00 in restitution to her former clients.

According to court documents, Markowitz owned three businesses — My Donor Cycle, Surrogacy Beyond Borders, and Expecting Surrogacy — through which she marketed herself as a surrogacy consultant to those seeking to realize their dreams of becoming parents. Beginning around 2018, when Markowitz and her businesses began to experience financial distress, she devised a scheme to steal money from her surrogacy clients by, among other things, submitting fraudulent requests to withdraw client funds from the escrow company where the funds were maintained. Markowitz submitted four fraudulent escrow disbursement requests, including one in which she forged a client’s signature in order to steal his escrow funds.

In her plea agreement, Markowitz admitted that from 2019 through 2021, she defrauded nine additional clients by falsely promising that their funds would be deposited into an escrow account and that their funds would be accessed only to pay for expenses related to their respective surrogacy journey. Instead, Markowitz deposited these clients’ funds into her business checking account, then immediately used them to cover general business expenses, expenses related to other clients’ surrogacy journeys, expenses related to her unrelated yoga and float business, and to pay for her personal expenses.

“Lillian Markowitz turned her surrogacy businesses into a Ponzi scheme,” said U.S. Attorney Adam Gordon. “She did not simply steal funds. She stole the dream of parenthood from her victims. She exploited hope and heartbreak for profit. Those who prey on the desperate will be held accountable.”

“Today’s sentencing of Lilian Markowitz marks the conclusion of a cruel and deceitful scheme that deeply exploited the victims’ hopeful dreams of becoming parents,” Acting Special Agent in Charge Houtan Moshrefi. “After years of deception, Ms. Markowitz will now be held accountable for her egregious breach of trust and unethical conduct.”

This case was prosecuted by Special Assistant United States Attorney Jeffrey D. Hill and Assistant United States Attorney Mark W. Pletcher.

DEFENDANT                                                           Case Number 24-CR-0904-TWR

Lillian Arielle Markowitz (aka Lillian Frost)            Age: 40                                   Portland, OR

SUMMARY OF CHARGES

Wire Fraud – Title 18, U.S.C., Section 134

Maximum penalty: Twenty years in prison and $250,000 fine

INVESTIGATING AGENCY

Federal Bureau of Investigation        

Contact

Kelly Thornton, Director of Media Relations