The Journey Update: The D.A. Brings Charges

0:06Last week, on the morning of October 6, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office held a press conference downtown. The room was filled with local news reporters. Just after 11 a.m., a man in a gray suit and striped tie walked up to the podium. Good morning. My name is Nathan Hochman. I'm the district attorney of Los Angeles County. We're going to be talking today about an unprecedented case of child abuse that occurred in Arcadia in which very serious felony charges have been filed I've been reporting on Sylvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan, the enigmatic couple at the center of a nationwide surrogacy scandal, for over a year now.

0:52And one question has come up again and again. Are they still pursuing the criminal charges, the Arcadia PD? What about like the child abuse and all of that, where they found guilty and all of that? I want to know, is Sylvia going to go, you know, is she going to go to jail for any of this? Just three weeks after we released this podcast series, which included previously unreported details about the case, police arrested Sylvia and Guojun. And they charged them with multiple felony counts related to the abuse of their many children. This house could only be described as a house of whores for these young, incredibly young children that had been brought to this house through this surrogacy process.

1:43Not only is the couple now facing criminal charges in L.A., the feds are involved too. The morning of the arrest, the FBI took part in a search of the couple's mansion. From In the Dark and The New Yorker, I'm Ava Kaufman. In this bonus episode of The Journey, I'll tell you about the new criminal case, as well as some surprising things law enforcement found inside the house. And I'll tell you what I've learned about the FBI investigation.

2:22Before he described the charges, the L.A. County District Attorney, Nathan Hockman, gave the audience a warning. The information that we are going to be talking about, and again, we're going to be talking about what has been publicly filed in the complaint today, is incredibly disturbing. The couple, he said, was being charged with multiple felonies, including conspiracy to commit child abuse. That conspiracy charge cited the couple's decision to recruit surrogates under false pretenses. It also cited the couple's installation of more than 30 motion-activated cameras, which had captured nannies spanking, slapping, and hitting children in rooms throughout the mansion.

3:05Then, Hockman described a room I hadn't heard about before. One of the rooms in the residence was not equipped with a camera. And one or more of these charged co-conspirator nannies was captured on surveillance, carrying these children into that room where the children could then be heard screaming from inside. In my reporting, I'd learned that Guo Jun was sometimes directly involved in the abuse. But what the DA described was far more detailed and, as he'd warned us, difficult to listen to. In one incident, the surveillance footage showed Guo Jun entering one of the classrooms and allegedly telling the nanny to hit one of his children harder.

3:49And then the DA said, He joined in the physical punishment, repeatedly striking the child's bare buttocks and delivering open-handed blows to the child's head. This defendant, Xuen, also lifted the child into the air by one arm while continuing to strike him and repeatedly struck the child's head from side to side, with sufficient force that the child's body lurched in alternating directions with the blows. The footage that Hockman was describing had been seized by police more than a year ago. That was in May of 2025, when police had shown up at the house after the couple's two-month-old baby had ended up in the hospital with severe head injuries.

4:36Hockman now told us something else, something new about what had happened last year. Right before police arrived, the cameras had captured Sylvia and Guojun allegedly instructing their children to deny they'd been beaten. Sylvia had even told a nanny to hide the evidence of the beatings. As the detectives were actually approaching the residence on May 7, 2025, Defendant Zhang warned one of the nannies that someone was coming and instructed her not to discuss the beatings and to put away the sticks that were used to strike the children. Following that instruction, that nanny went ahead and gathered up the sticks and concealed them inside of a drawer.

5:23As I listened to the press conference, I kept thinking about the fact that all the incidents the DA was describing had taken place over a year ago. Back when police first obtained this footage, they'd arrested Sylvia and Guojun, held them in jail for four days, and then released them. Social workers had removed all the kids from the house, but the parents hadn't been charged. I raised my hand to ask a question about this. Right here. Mr. Hogman, Ava Kaufman with the New Yorkers in the Dark was wondering if you could explain why it took so long to charge the parents after the initial arrest in May 2025 when most of this evidence had been on video.

6:03So again, with respect to putting together a case like this, and I invite you to look at the criminal complaint that has been filed, we do it methodically because we need to review everything from video to witness statements. The DA went on to say it took a long time because it was a complicated case. His office wanted to be methodical. They had to deal with different languages. It wasn't the most illuminating answer.

6:33A source with knowledge of the situation later told me that our reporting and the public scrutiny that followed played a role in the county's decision to charge the parents.

6:59After the press conference, I drove to the courthouse in Pasadena for the arraignment, where the couple was going to make their first appearance in the criminal case. I was seated in the jury box, along with a bunch of broadcast media and the courtroom sketch artist. The court or department key is back in session. Okay, this is case 263. He has 00918. Sylvia entered the courtroom wearing an oversized white t-shirt and black pants. She looked a little exhausted, but otherwise the same. Guojun, however, was completely transformed. When I'd last tried to speak with him, in the spring, he'd been energetically strolling around a parking lot, wearing business clothes, his head full of black hair.

7:44Now, he was in a wheelchair, and bald. According to his lawyer, Guojun was being treated for a rare form of leukemia and had just received a bone marrow transplant. A medical port stuck out from his chest, its catheters dangling. Both defendants pleaded not guilty and denied the allegations Hockman had outlined that morning. Then the court turned its attention to the question of bail. The prosecutor, Mackenzie Tamori, had filed a motion asking the judge to set bail at$100 million for each defendant. I understand that that is an extraordinarily high request, but this is an extraordinary case. A reasonably attainable amount does not have to be easily attainable or convenient, but reasonably attainable.

8:32Tamori explained why the prosecution believed the couple could reasonably attain such an extraordinary sum. She said the couple had many, many bank accounts. About 200 bank accounts that they control and have assets in 70 corporate bank accounts. And that those bank accounts had a remarkable amount of money transferred between them the past few years. Transferred approximately$250 million. $250 million. I'd known that Guojun was wealthy. A former real estate employee had told us that he'd purchased million-dollar properties in cash. But moving a quarter of a billion dollars around? That surprised me.

9:13Taimuri then shared some additional details about what had happened after that morning's arrest She said, law enforcement was currently searching the couple's mansion and already they'd found millions of dollars worth of assets including antique sculptures and expensive bottles of alcohol There were crates and crates of maotai the pungent Chinese liquor that Guojun's former employees told me he liked to drink Authorities had also found multiple passports. Gojun had one U.S. passport in his office, another U.S. passport in a safe downstairs. He also had a Chinese passport and a Mexican one. A Mexican passport, which as of yet, I have not been able to determine whether it is fraudulent or not.

9:59But I do know that they have used fake passports to open up bank accounts. She was also concerned that the passports could be used to help the couple flee the country. That flight risk was another reason she wanted to set the bail at$100 million. And she asked the judge for something else, a protective order, so that the couple could not contact or intimidate the children, who were now victims and witnesses in the criminal case. Since their kids were placed in foster care last year, Sylvia and Guojun have been allowed supervised visits. And Tamori gave an example of how, on one of those visits, Sylvia had tried to coach them.

10:40And I will add, Your Honor, in speaking with dependency and DCFS individuals, there was also an occasion where Ms. Yuan was meeting with the child and reading with the child with the DCFS monitor in the room, and she had written in the book so that the child could see it, but the DCFS monitor could not tell them you're happy with me, something to the effect of tell them you want to come home with me. time and time again that these defendants are attempting to get away with this, Your Honor. Sylvia's defense attorney wasn't at the arraignment, but Guojun's was, and he represented both parents that day.

11:19His name was Mitchell Krems. And if that sounds familiar, that's because he's the same lawyer Guojun used for the child welfare case in the juvenile dependency court. That was the case we told you about in episode five, where the judge decided that neither parent would get to reunify with their children. Mitchell Krems was now arguing that setting the bail at$100 million for each defendant was, quote, absurd. He pointed out that Guo Jun, stuck in a wheelchair, was gravely ill. If he's not tended to properly, and if he is confined, he could possibly die, Your Honor. So we are asking at this time for the bail to be set at a reasonable amount, which would be$5 million for each defendant, Your Honor.

12:02After some back and forth, the judge made his decision. So I'm going to set the bail to$20 million for each defendant with the following non-financial conditions. That's$20 million for each defendant. With the added conditions that they surrender all of their passports, wear electronic monitoring devices, and only leave their home for court or medical emergencies. And he issued a protective order, prohibiting any contact with the children. Right after the arraignment, Mitchell Krems held an impromptu press conference outside the courthouse. It was 100 degrees that afternoon, but if he was sweating beneath his powder blue suit, he didn't show it.

12:43Just speak up. Okay, who would like to start? Krems told us, Sylvia and Guojun were being targeted because of their background. My client, Mr. Schwan, and Sylvia are being treated unfairly because they're immigrants, because they're Chinese. They came to this country from a communist country to be able to exercise the liberties to have as many children as they want. If they were white, if they were Elon Musk, and they weren't Chinese, they wouldn't experience this level of scrutiny. He reiterated to the crowd what he'd previously told me, that the child abuse was all the nanny's fault and that the parents had fired any nannies who'd acted inappropriately.

13:21Any more questions? I had one. What is the FBI investigating? I can't comment on that at this time. Have they been giving you any information about the investigation? I can't comment on that at this time. The FBI spokesperson, I later asked, said the same thing. But in the course of my reporting, I've learned some things about what the FBI may be looking into. More on that after the break.

14:12You might remember how, when all this started last year, the FBI was investigating Sylvia Nguozun. The Bureau refused to comment on the case, but Arcadia Police confirmed that their detectives are working with the FBI. They'd interviewed the couple's surrogates, and even some of their former employees. And back then, they were looking into the possibility of child trafficking. But as far as I could tell, there was no evidence the couple was selling their children, and the FBI no longer seemed to be pursuing this line of inquiry. But I've heard there are other reasons the FBI is scrutinizing the couple.

14:48First of all, remember that office building owned by Guojun's LLCs? The one where authorities discovered an illicit casino, narcotics, and hundreds of pounds of psychedelic mushrooms? Illegal drugs, firearms, and gambling. It was all allegedly happening at a property managed by the man at the center of the surrogacy scandal. I told you in episode two about how the city of Almonte filed a lawsuit against Guojun and his business associates. That suit is still pending, but former Drug Enforcement Administration and Department of Defense officials told me that what was going on at Guojun's building might raise bigger questions about Guojun's potential ties to money laundering.

15:28I should say that an attorney for Guojun previously told me his client has never engaged in any illicit financial transactions. There could be another reason that the federal government might be looking into Guojun. That has to do with the FBI's investigations into influence operations carried out by the Chinese Communist Party, or CCP. Since 2020, the Justice Department has charged at least six people in Southern California with acting or conspiring to act as illegal agents of the Chinese government. Earlier this year, as part of its investigations, the FBI conducted a series of raids in L.A.

16:07County. I don't have any evidence connecting Guojun to these investigations, but I have discovered links between him and one of the key figures in these cases. It's worth taking a moment to explain.

16:25Back in China, you might recall Guojun was named a deputy to the People's Congress for Xinjiang. The role is kind of equivalent to that of a state representative in the U.S., and he served a five-year term.

16:40After immigrating here, Guojun became something of a well-known figure in the Chinese-American business community. In 2018, he founded a group called the U.S. Xinjiang General Chamber of Commerce and named himself the president. There are many so-called friendship associations like these, especially across the Singapreal Valley in L.A. County, which is home to a large Chinese and Chinese-American population. Wealthy business people like Guojun use these civic groups to hobnob with local politicians and keep up ties to Beijing. A lot of this is just run-of-the-mill networking. But there's also extensive research showing that the Chinese government sometimes uses such groups to directly advance CCP interests.

17:27Several of the people investigated by the FBI had ties to U.S.-China friendship associations. That included someone Guojun was connected to. Her name is Eileen Wong, and she was serving as the mayor of Arcadia. This is a story out of a movie. The mayor of Arcadia is stepping down tonight after pleading guilty to charges accusing her of working as an agent for China. Wang could face up to 10 years in prison. Her lawyers say she is sorry for the mistakes she's made. According to the plea agreement, Wang had taken direction from Chinese government officials to post propaganda on a news website. In one instance, an official had instructed her to post an article denying that human rights abuses were being committed against the Muslim Uyghur population in Xinjiang.

18:24That's the same region where Guojun lived and worked in local politics. Guojun had been a top donor to Eileen Wong's city council campaign, and I found several photos of them together online. In one of these pictures, at the city councilwoman's victory party, they're seated close together. Wang's cup is filled with red wine. In front of Guojun are two bottles of Maotai.

18:56That's from a video we found of Guojun speaking at an event for a friendship organization Eileen Wang founded.

19:07In Mandarin, Guojun is praising Wang, describing her as the Chinese people's pride and role model.

19:17Despite that relationship with Eileen Wang, Guojun's lawyer, Mitchell Krems, told me his client does not have ties to the CCP. He added, quote, I would be surprised if there was any evidence to support this contention. We'll see what comes of all this. But for now, in addition to looking into Guojun's parenting and charging him with child abuse, authorities are also looking into Guojun's business dealings. Which could mean maybe we'll finally get answers as to where all his money might be coming from.

19:57After the break, how the surrogates feel about these dramatic developments.

20:17When Sylvia and Guojun were arrested last week, many of the surrogates had already heard the news before I had the chance to call them. By midday, the story was everywhere. Now at noon, an Arcadia couple is in custody. It was actually a little surprising just how many outlets had picked it up.

20:40Some of the surrogates had watched the live stream of the DA's press conference. Others learned about it after the fact. You have no idea, Ava. Like, when I heard, because I didn't even hear this until a friend texted me. He's like, oh my God, you saw the news today. I was like, what the heck? And all I can think of it, and I was so mad at myself. That's Maria Castellanos. You haven't heard from her on this podcast before, though we've been in touch for the past year. I first met Maria in September 2025, and she hadn't been ready to speak publicly at the time. But recently, she changed her mind.

21:16As far as I could tell, Maria was the couple's third surrogate. She'd actually done two journeys with Sylvia. giving birth to a boy, and then, less than two years later, a girl. Maria told me she kept thinking about how long all this had gone on for, and how for years, the couple had been allowed to keep bringing more and more children into their home. And that's where it's frustrating, because if, you know, the lawyer's getting paid by Sylvia and Guyan, then the clinics are getting paid by them, and then everybody else is getting paid by them, so they just look the other way and that was it. Maria told me she'd listened to the fifth episode of this podcast, the one where we revealed how many tips police and social workers had gotten about the family over the years.

22:02I mean, the kids, they don't have any justice. Like, they don't, nobody helped them. You know what I mean? And I was like, you know, they kind of, whatever they saw, you know, this could have been prevented. And it's just everybody involved, you know? Maria kept saying this could have been prevented. If social workers and law enforcement had made different decisions, would the couple have had as many children? Would the surrogates have been sued by the couple? And how would things have been different for the children? Maria couldn't stop wondering what else the two kids she'd carried had experienced in that house.

22:39I could just imagine what they were going through and this is just what they saw in evidence could you see could you imagine like how they went bed to bed like where do you like the stupidest smallest thing like where they read a book every night were they giving hugs were they giving words of affirmation as little kids should be you know it's like the best freaking years of your life where these kids grow up and see when they want to be like you and they you know mom and dad for whatever it is. And it's like, I thought that's what I was helping Sylvia with.

23:20Yesterday, the couple was scheduled to appear at a bail hearing, and Maria decided to attend. It would be the first time she'd seen Sylvia since 2024, when Maria had given birth to the second child she carried for the couple. Guojun didn't end up coming to court. He'd had a medical emergency that morning. Sylvia was there, and Maria wondered if Sylvia would recognize her. But she wasn't entirely surprised when Sylvia didn't seem to notice.

23:57Ultimately, the hearing was postponed until this Friday. As of this writing, the couple remains in custody.

24:32The Journey is written and produced by me, Ava Kaufman, senior producer, Natalie Jablonski, and producer, Raymond Tungakar. Samara Fremark is the managing producer for the series. It's edited by Alison McAdam. Additional editing by Willing Davidson and Madeline Barron. Theme and original music by Alex Weston. Additional music by Chris Julin and Alison Leighton-Brown. This episode was mixed by Corey Shreppel. Our art is by Vartika Sharma. Art direction by Aviva Miklov and Ben Kothi. Fact-checking by Inuo Shi. Additional reporting by Zemo Lee. Legal review by Fabio Bertoni and Ben Murray. Our managing editor is Julia Rothschild.

25:23The editor of The New Yorker is David Remnick. If you have comments or story tips, please send them to the team at inthedark at newyorker.com. And make sure to follow In the Dark wherever you get your podcasts.

25:59Thank you.

26:26to support our show and gives you ad-free access to all of our past episodes and future seasons, too. We're almost done working on our next big story. We can't wait to bring it to you. Subscribe at newyorker.com slash dark. And as always, thank you for listening to In the Dark.