Feature
How a Billionaire’s ‘Baby Project’ Ensnared Dozens of Women
Disgraced tycoon Greg Lindberg built a network of egg donors and surrogates. Several say he conned them—and that US fertility clinics helped him do it.
Lindberg in Tampa this spring.
Photographer: Rose Marie Cromwell for Bloomberg BusinessweekAs Anya walked into the fertility clinic for an appointment to have her eggs retrieved, she was already starting to panic. The modern miracle of in vitro fertilization has scary moments for all women, but she had extra reason to be nervous.
A native of Kazakhstan, Anya was working in the US as a model and actress. (The name is a pseudonym.) Her billionaire boyfriend had swept her off her feet, promising her a family and a loving future in the States. The only catch, he told her, was that he wanted kids yesterday, so she’d need to begin the IVF process as soon as possible. Then, if fertilization was successful, a surrogate would carry the embryo to term. If Anya didn’t start IVF, he’d dump her and move on.