Some of the 30+ women who received donor sperm from the same man who claimed to be a PhD neuroscience engineer discovered via Google that he was unemployed college drop out with a criminal history and mental illness past.
They are among several who have sued Georgia company Xytext Corp for promoting James Christian (Chris) Aggeles as a highly educated, healthy and popular donor.
The lawsuits claim that the company never questioned the information that Aggeles entered into his questionnaire and that the Xytext misled donor recipient about his medical and social history. Court documents indicate that Aggeles has suffered from schizophrenia, bipolar and narcissistic personality disorders.
The 39-year old turned himself into the police last month. He is father to 19 boys and 17 girls from 26 families, a 2014 report indicates.
“I was contacted about a male in the police parking lot that said he had committed a fraud,” Det. Brigitte Menzel wrote in the report. “He informed me that he had falsified paperwork for a sperm bank, Xytex.”
Menzel’s report said Aggeles told her he “was not truthful” about his college degree status, and about some other information which was redacted in the report obtained by The Canadian Press. “Aggeles said that I could Google his name and there would be ample information available,” Menzel wrote. ”
A lawyer for Xytex said the company currently has no comment on the information in the police report. However, in the past, Xytex has said Aggeles was interviewed about his health, indicated he had no physical or mental impairments, and underwent a standard medical exam.
Nancy Hersh, a U.S. lawyer representing one of three Canadian women who have sued the company said the mothers first became suspicious of Aggeles’s history in 2014 after Xytex accidentally cc’d him in an email group chat set up by the company for mothers of the same donor.
“[The mothers] went to work, found out who he was, and found out everything they needed to know about him,” she said.
The company said it made it clear to the families that Aggeles’s information could not be verified for accuracy. Hersh disagrees.
“It was very easy for my clients to Google Mr. Aggeles when they found his name,” she said. “After we advised them of the information … they continued to deny that it was true,” Hersh claims. “So they either didn’t do their own due diligence … or they were lying.”
Hersh told the Canadian Press that she wants litigation to lead to action and regulation in the industry. “These are forprofit companies that make their money selling sperm and they have absolutely no incentive to do any background checks or any verification of anything as long as there’s no regulation and there’s no litigation,” she said.