Collapsed international surrogacy agency World Center of Baby has been dealt a double blow in Florida, with a judge ruling against its U.S. corporate entity in a civil lawsuit – shortly after another case against the company was filed.

The developments come just over a month after OCCRP published a global investigation into the chaos World Center of Baby left in its wake after announcing it was filing for bankruptcy, including surrogates left unpaid and unsupported, and prospective parents abandoned. 

In a decision made publicly available on Tuesday, Judge Thomas Ramsberger in Florida’s Sixth Circuit Court ruled in favor of a U.K.-based couple who brought a case against the agency’s U.S. corporate entity World Center Group Corp and two of its representatives. The complaint was on five counts, including breach of contract and fraud. 

The lawsuit accused the company of “a calculated and coordinated scheme” to secure substantial payments for promised services despite its worsening financial and operational problems.

The judge noted that the decision was a default judgement as none of the three defendants — World Center Group Corp, its former listed president Yuri Star, and listed director Malvina Jonas — responded to summons sent to the addresses listed on the company’s corporate documents. The ruling followed an October 5 hearing that the defendants failed to attend. 

World Center Group Corp, Star, and Jonas were ordered to recover funds for the couple amounting to $87,415 which they had paid for a World Center of Baby program that was meant to provide surrogate matching, medical coordination, and program management through the birth of two children. In the end, they received none of it.

The couple, who spoke with reporters, but asked not to be named, said: “Although we have a judgement, we are not yet clear on what our chances of recovery are.”

The case was tried in Pinellas County on Florida’s west coast, because that is where the most recent incorporation documents list an address for World Center Group Corp. 

Just before the judgement, a second civil lawsuit was filed in Pinellas County against Yuri Star and World Center Group Corp. by another intended parent who alleges they paid the agency more than $40,000 for medical procedures that were due to take place in Mexico, but did not happen and were not refunded. The plaintiff had been urged to pay the money up front in exchange for a discount, the complaint alleges. 

That lawsuit lays out four counts against World Center Group Corp, including fraud and breach of contract, citing OCCRP’s investigation as part of the submitted evidence. 

The complaint also alleges that the plaintiff was unaware that the agency did not actually employ medical staff in Mexico and instead used third-party clinics. Former World Center of Baby employees later told the plaintiff that the agency had stopped paying its partner clinics and employees around the time that the plaintiff traveled to Mexico for a clinic visit. 

OCCRP’s investigation into World Center of Baby found that the agency’s operations and ownership were difficult to pin down, including basic information such as who owns it, its corporate structure, and what led to its demise. 

Star, the former listed president, told reporters during the investigation that he had been hired as a consultant to register the company and knew nothing about it or why it collapsed. He said he was not a shareholder, investor, or beneficiary, and was still owed money for his services. 

Star did not respond to a request for comment on the judgement against him.

Reporters were unable to reach Jonas, the listed director. Five employees who spoke with reporters said they had never met or spoken with her and one of the employees claimed her signature was automated. 

Ukrainian businessman Vladyslav Natochii, who is variously listed on previous versions of the agency’s website as its founder, owner, and managing director, but is not on the paperwork of the Florida-registered entity told reporters that World Center of Baby had “experienced a severe financial and operational crisis,” and denied wrongdoing.