Greek surrogacy clinic charged parents including Australians up to $200,000 for babies

The Greek surrogacy clinic accused of forcing vulnerable women to be egg donors or surrogates was charging desperate parents, including Aussies, up to $200,000 for babies.

The Greek surrogacy clinic accused forcing foreign ­vulnerable women to be egg donors or surrogates was charging desperate aspiring parents, including Australians, up to $200,000 for babies.

Hellenic police in Athens will allege the Mediterranean Fertility Institute engaged in human trafficking and illegal infant adoptions and was behind at least 182 cases of exploitation of women in the field of oocyte removal and surrogacy, while also deceiving patients through sham embryo transfers (IVF) and brokering illegal adoptions since December 2022.

Authorities are investigating a staggering 400 cases of potential fraud and personal injury through IVF procedures at the facility in Crete that has now been shut down.

“The 400 involved mainly women who genuinely thought they were doing egg removal and were injured in the process and did not fall pregnant – Australian women were among those victims of fraud and injury,” a Hellenic police spokeswoman said.

Dr Ioannis Giakoumakis, director and specialist on IVF issues of the Mediterranean Fertility Centre based in Crete, Greece.

Those behind marketing the clinic’s services to Australia are said to be in “deep shock” that the clinic was allegedly running a clandestine operation where egg donors and surrogates were recruited from Ukraine, Albania, Georgie and Bulgaria and virtually imprisoned, a source close to the investigation said.

A police raid during the early hours of August 8 culminated in eight staff arrests and newborns placed in detention in a high security section of a Chania hospital.

Police will allege gang leaders were paid €5,000 ($8,424) per surrogate they recruited from abroad who were then forced to live supervised in 14 homes in Crete.

Eight senior staff at the clinic were arrested including the leader and coordinator of the group – a 73-year-old Greek doctor, founder and administrator of the clinic and a fertility doctor, 44, who “received instructions only from the leader.

Mediterranean Fertility Centre was raided by federal police over accusations of human trafficking and fraud. Picture: Facebook

Authorities allege his role was to supervise, direct and co-ordinate the duties and actions of the other members. He is alleged to have performed medical procedures on victims of human trafficking and logged false registrations of ovulations with the Registry of Donations.

With money from the organisation, police say he allegedly financed the renting of 14 houses for temporary accommodation for the pregnant women in and around Crete.

They were not allowed out of the accommodation unsupervised, a police source said.

Hellenic police have seized clinic records dating back five years which show the criminal enterprise charged between €70,000 (AUS$117,904.38) to €100,000 (A$168,375) per surrogacy program, with 70 per cent of this being net profit, and in some specialist cases €120,000 (A$202,050).

The police briefing states the two leading directors of the clinic, recruited “brokers” in Crete, Thessaloniki and abroad to find vulnerable women, gain their written consent, and transport them to Greece where they were then exploited as egg donors or surrogate mothers.

The network of “brokers” were dispatched to hunt foreign women from Ukraine, Albania, Georgia, and Bulgaria to meet the desperate needs of wannabe parents from all over the world (couples who could not have children, “lonely” single men or same-sex couples). It is illegal for single men and homosexual couples to adopt in Greece.

The sudden closure of Mediterranean Fertility Centre could affect up to 150 Australians currently having surrogates carrying their babies. Picture: Facebook

In some cases, before the women were used as surrogate mothers, they were further exploited by having their eggs removed, police claim.

It is understood its sudden closure could affect up to 150 Australians currently having surrogates carrying their babies.

Police claim from December 2022, the criminal gang recruited 71 egg donors – some of them repeatedly exploited by the members of the organisation,- 98 victims of human trafficking, exploited as surrogate mothers and orchestrated 13 cases of illegal incidents for the process of obtaining a child through a surrogacy program, four cases of illegal and attempted adoptions and 400 cases of fraud and causing physical harm to patients through virtual extracorporeal devices.

Among others arrested were a supervisor, 37, who handled transport, accommodation and payment of the legal fees as well as administering the drugs to the surrogate mothers.

A 41-year-old female Greek resident who called herself a embryologist assistant, who sourced childless and same-sex couples from Italy and provided her father’s house for surrogate mothers and donors to live in.

A woman, 28, acting as a midwife and who performed medical procedures while preparing genetic material, while managing the foreign surrogate mothers and egg donors.

Police claim from December 2022, the criminal gang recruited 71 egg donors – some of them repeatedly exploited by the members of the organisation. Picture: Facebook

A 41-year-old office worker of another clinic is accused of falsifying clinic records to cover up illegal activity of the organisation has been arrested.

A 38-year-old native who identified vulnerable foreigners and women in Northern Greece and organised their transport to Crete, receiving a fee of 3,000-4,000 euros for each surrogate mother she introduced into the clinic.

The clinic raid led by the Organised Crime Department of the General Regional Police Directorate of Crete with the help of the Sub-Directorate of Combating Organised Crime and Human Trafficking of Thessaloniki and the Digital Evidence Department of the Directorate of Criminal Investigations of the Hellenic Police Headquarters also targeted homes in Crete, Athens and Thessaloniki.

Eight members of the organisation were arrested and charged with forming and joining a criminal organisation, human trafficking, mediation in the adoption of a minor by profession and violations of the law on the implementation of medically assisted reproduction, forgery, disruption of family order, fraud, physical harm and violation of drug legislation.

Other charges include preparing false documents for the purpose of issuing a court decision for people who did not meet the legal requirements and falsifying birth records, medical documents, preparing fictitious contracts and false cohabitation agreements.

In cases of interested parents from countries where the process of obtaining a child through a surrogate mother was prohibited, they declared the births as adoptions.

The IVF clinic has switched off its phones and was not taking calls.

Originally published as Greek surrogacy clinic charged parents including Australians up to $200,000 for babies