Silvia Zhang and Guojun Xuan pleaded not guilty in a Pasadena court to charges including child abuse and witness intimidation. Prosecutors say the investigation concerns 21 children, many of whom were born through surrogacy.
Zhang, 39, and Xuan, 66, were charged after a police investigation in Arcadia, near Los Angeles. Prosecutors allege that the couple employed nannies and used surveillance cameras in their home. They say children were regularly beaten and that Xuan once told a nanny to hit a child harder. The allegations have not been proven in court.
About 21 children, ranging from a few months to 13 years old, are involved in the case, according to ABC. Authorities say at least 14 were born through surrogacy. In July 2025, police removed 15 children from the home and located six others living elsewhere. Investigators said most were between one and three years old.
Xuan faces a felony child-abuse charge, an accessory-after-the-fact charge and five counts of witness intimidation. Zhang is charged with accessory after the fact and four counts of witness intimidation. Both pleaded not guilty in court on Tuesday. ABC reported that prosecutors had requested $100 million bail. The Associated Press later reported that a judge set bail at $20 million for each defendant.
The investigation began after a hospital reported a head injury to a two-month-old infant in May 2025. Police suspected a nanny had shaken the baby. Investigators later reviewed footage from three rooms the couple called learning centres. Nanny Chunmei Li, who faces separate charges, fled and remains at large.
Prosecutors also allege that the couple ran a surrogacy agency from their home and misled women about their plans and the number of children in the family. At least eight women said the couple repeatedly harassed them, ABC reported. The couple’s lawyer, Mitchell Krems, denied the allegations and said the investigation unfairly targeted the family because of their Chinese origins and their wish to have a large family.