Almost a year after a scandalous couple was accused of running a disturbing surrogacy business scheme in California, their lawyer has made claims about why the duo wanted nearly two dozen children.
Guojun Xuan and his partner Silvia Zhang, who were 65 and 38 at the time of their arrest last year, were taken into custody on May 9 on suspicion of child abuse and neglect at their castle-like $4.1 million Arcadia mansion.
Arcadia Police had found 21 surrogate-born children, ranging in age from two months to 13 years, across multiple properties the couple had owned.
The couple’s attorney said that his client, Xuan, wanted to have many kids because he believed they could make meaningful contributions to society when they grew up.
Mitchell Krems described his client’s cause as ‘rooted in a desire to help create good citizens,’ during an interview with ABC News 7.
He told the outlet that Xuan wanted to spend his resources to help his children become educated and do good for the world.
The couple has been under state and federal investigation since last summer. They were out of jail on $500,000 bail each and have not been seen publicly since their arrest.
The Daily Mail had spotted Xuan at one of his buildings less than 10 miles from the Arcadia mansion in August 2025.
Guojun Xuan and his partner Silvia Zhang were allegedly running a baby factory in their $4.1million castle-like mansion in Arcadia
The couple is under state and federal investigation while they are out of jail on $500,000 bail each
Xuan’s lawyer, Mitchell Krems said his client wanted as many as two dozen kids because he wanted them to grow up and do good for society
Speaking of the couple’s desire to have lots of children, Krems added: ‘On the surface, it seems like it’s very eccentric, but I have gotten to know Mr Xuan on a very personal level as his attorney, and it has become apparent to me that his desire to have so many kids emanates from his altruism.’
He added: ‘The reason he has all these children is because he wants them to contribute to society.’
‘He is not a man who is self-indulgent. Some who are wealthy might spend on jewelry or cars, but he is actually spending his resources to help his children become educated so that they can be the philosophers, the physicians, the researchers and the inventors that help society,’ the attorney said.
The lawyer was also questioned on whether children had been abused inside Xuan’s mansion.
He said: ‘I can’t comment due to confidentiality as to search warrants or any pending case, but what I will say is any general accusation that my client is abusive in any way whatsoever is categorically false.’
The couple has been laying low since their release on $500,000 bail each, but the Daily Mail spotted Guojun Xuan at his office in August 2025
One of the couple’s children, two-month-old Baby Walter, suffered severe head injuries, according to a warrant filed by the Arcadia Police Department
Police said a nanny can be seen spanking a child on a makeshift classroom desk on surveillance footage
Xuan and Zhang were taken into custody after a local hospital notified police that their two-month-old boy Walter was brought in with traumatic head injuries, according to the warrants.
A search warrant obtained by ABC News 7 revealed that their son suffered an apparent head injury when the couple’s nanny, Chunmei Li, was captured hitting the baby on security camera video inside the home.
The warrant stated that footage showed the baby cried for a few seconds ‘until a thud or hit is heard,’ and that the crying stopped suddenly.
Xuan and Zhang’s former staff told The Daily Mail that working for the couple felt like serving under a military regime. They claimed that employees were subjected to constant threats, screams and physical harm.
In one of the still photos taken from the video surveillance footage, a child was seen lying on his belly on top of a table with his pants down as he was allegedly being spanked by a nanny, according to the search warrant.
The Daily Mail had also revealed last year that Xuan was one of the top contributors to disgraced Arcadia Mayor Eileen Wang, who pleaded guilty in June to charges that she was an illegal agent for China and helped spread propaganda in the US on behalf of the Chinese government.
He was a top contributor to Wang’s first election campaign in 2022 and provided the Chinese operative with $4,900.
The couple has had at least five more surrogate-born babies in Virginia, Pennsylvania and Georgia after the controversy, CBS News reported in January.
All the children were also taken into state custody and the couple are fighting for their custody across four states and suing some surrogates in the process, the outlet reported.
