Couple arrested at Arcadia, California mansion in surrogacy child-abuse case

Mixed · 2Guojun Xuan and Silvia Zhang were arrested on Tuesday 6 October 2026 at their mansion in Arcadia, California. 1 2 Mixed · 2Los Angeles District Attorney Nathan J. Hochman said the couple is charged with conspiracy to commit child abuse and dissuading a witness, and that he is asking for bail of $100 million; the New York Post, citing the Los Angeles Times, described the charges as being 'on suspicion' of conspiracy to commit child abuse and witness intimidation. 1 2 Left · 2Xuan, 66, and Zhang, 39, face counts of child abuse, conspiracy to commit child abuse, accessory after the fact and dissuading a witness; NBC reported that Xuan faces one felony count of child abuse, one of accessory after the fact and five of dissuading a witness, while Zhang faces one count of accessory after the fact and four of dissuading a witness. 3 4

Left · 2Prosecutors are seeking $100 million bail, citing the seriousness of the charges and flight risk, and the couple were scheduled to be arraigned at the Pasadena courthouse later on Tuesday. 5 3 Left · 1Authorities raided the same home in July 2025 and took 21 children, mostly born to surrogates, into state custody. CBS News's headline line says the couple had at least 25 children via surrogates. 1 Mixed · 2Fifteen children were removed from the home last year and six others living elsewhere were located; they ranged from 2 months to 13 years old, most between 1 and 3, and police believe Zhang gave birth to one or two of them while surrogates carried the rest. 6 5

Left · 1Hochman and Los Angeles County Sheriff Robert Luna spoke at a news conference on Tuesday morning; Hochman called the case 'unprecedented' and the house 'a house of horrors', and Luna said the children were subjected to 'horrific abuse'. 4 Left · 3The case began in May 2025 when a hospital reported that the couple's 2-month-old had a traumatic head injury that Arcadia police said resulted from a nanny violently shaking the baby; the couple were first arrested then, but police did not file charges while they completed their investigation. Hochman said the baby has since recovered, and an arrest warrant was issued for the nanny, Chunmei Li, who could not be found. 6 4 3 Left · 3Hochman alleged the couple ran a surrogacy agency from the home and hired surrogates across the U.S., and set up three 'learning centers' where children sat at desks for hours under nannies' supervision; through motion-activated cameras (32, per NBC) the couple allegedly watched the nannies beat the children daily and were told not to leave visible marks. 3 4 6

Left · 1Hochman alleged in videos that Xuan told a nanny to strike a child harder and joined in hitting a child, and that the couple told the children to deny being beaten when police arrived in May 2025. 5 Left · 3Hochman said the couple lied to surrogates about why they wanted children and how many they already had, paying up to $75,000 per surrogacy in one case and $135,000 in another; at least eight women have said they were aggressively pursued and given misleading information, and one, Kayla Elliott, is seeking custody of a baby she bore for the couple. 4 3 6 Right · 1The New York Post reported that the couple allegedly exploited California's surrogacy laws to open their own agency, Mark Surrogacy; that report is not repeated in the CBS text. 2

Left · 1A Los Angeles FBI spokesperson confirmed the FBI served a search warrant at the home, separate from a search by the sheriff's department; a neighbour said helicopters and police were at the mansion and the block was taped off. 1 Right · 1Xuan's attorney, Mitchell Krems, said his client is innocent, blamed a nanny who 'went on the run', and said Xuan is being targeted for exercising his constitutional right to have a large family. 2 Left · 1Asked about motive, Hochman said it and the parentage of each child remain part of the ongoing investigation; he said one defendant faces more than 17 years in prison if convicted. Xuan's lawyer Mitchell Krems had earlier told ABC7 that Xuan wants his children to become productive adults, and did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the arrests. 5