Nearly a year after a controversial California couple was accused of operating a troubling surrogacy scheme, their attorney has offered an explanation for why they sought to have almost two dozen children.
Guojun Xuan and his partner, Silvia Zhang, were 65 and 38 respectively when they were arrested on May 9 last year. The pair were taken into custody on suspicion of child abuse and neglect at their castle-like $4.1 million mansion in Arcadia.
Arcadia police discovered 21 children born through surrogacy at several properties owned by the couple. The children ranged in age from two months to 13 years.
Xuan’s attorney said his client wanted to raise a large family because he believed the children could make valuable contributions to society as adults.
Mitchell Krems told ABC News 7 that his client’s motivation was “rooted in a desire to help create good citizens.”
Krems said Xuan wanted to use his financial resources to educate his children and prepare them to make a positive difference in the world.
The couple has remained under state and federal investigation since last summer. Both were released on $500,000 bail and have largely stayed out of the public eye since their arrests.
The Daily Mail photographed Xuan at one of his buildings, located less than 10 miles from the Arcadia mansion, in August 2025.
Guojun Xuan and his partner Silvia Zhang were allegedly operating a baby factory at their $4.1 million castle-like mansion in Arcadia
The couple remains under state and federal investigation after being released on $500,000 bail each
Xuan’s lawyer, Mitchell Krems, said his client wanted as many as two dozen children so they could grow up and contribute to society
Addressing the couple’s decision to have so many children, Krems said: “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 continued: “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.
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Krems was also asked whether any of the children had been abused inside Xuan’s mansion.
“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,” he said.
The couple has kept a low profile since being released on $500,000 bail each, although 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 an Arcadia Police Department warrant
Police said surveillance footage showed a nanny spanking a child on a makeshift classroom desk
Xuan and Zhang were arrested after a local hospital alerted police that their two-month-old son, Walter, had been 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.