Woman Stole $2.7M From Baby Surrogacy Agency, Gambled It Away: Feds

MINNEAPOLIS, MN — A former accounting manager for a Minnesota surrogacy agency and affiliated law firm was sentenced to more than four years in federal prison for embezzling over $2.7 million, prosecutors announced Tuesday.

Destiny McKayla Combs, 37, was given 51 months in prison followed by three years of supervised release, according to Acting U.S. Attorney Joseph H. Thompson.

Combs worked for the businesses for nearly a decade and was so trusted that in 2022, the owner agreed to sell her the surrogacy agency upon his retirement. But in 2023, before the deal closed, Combs abruptly quit and moved to Florida.

Federal investigators later discovered that between February 2019 and June 2023, Combs embezzled roughly $2.72 million. She used company money to pay off her personal American Express card, which she ran up with charges tied to her gambling addiction. In total, she made 292 fraudulent payments from company accounts.

Prosecutors said Combs falsified business records to disguise the transfers as legitimate expenses.

While awaiting trial, she repeatedly violated court-ordered release conditions by lying to her probation officer and traveling without permission to New York, Arizona, Florida, Nevada, and Washington.

U.S. District Judge John M. Gerrard, who handed down the sentence, cited her misconduct during pretrial release, including trips to Las Vegas in violation of travel restrictions.

The case was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service and the Minnesota Commerce Fraud Bureau. It was prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Matthew C. Murphy.