One of Gregory Blosser’s surrogacy clients dreamt not only of becoming a father, but also that his father could be a grandfather. He paid thousands of dollars to Blosser’s Annapolis-based firm, waiting two years to be connected with someone who would carry the child to birth.

While waiting, the client’s father died. And on the day he died, Blosser informed the client that there was no surrogate.

“Every day I wake up thinking if I had not met him, I would be a father hugging my child,” the man said in court Wednesday.

Federal prosecutors say Blosser, 39, scammed 44 people out of more than $1.1 million, operating what essentially became a Ponzi scheme as the business spiraled out of control.

U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Hollander sentenced Blosser to 32 months in federal prison Wednesday, saying Blosser’s deception impacted his clients “in a way that words can’t really capture.”

Blosser founded The Surrogacy Group, with offices in downtown Annapolis, in 2012 after his own journey to become a father. He and his partner had two children through surrogate parents, and he blogged about his experiences. People from around the world contacted him seeking guidance, and he quit his job at a marketing firm to help people connect with surrogates.

The Surrogacy Group directed prospective parents to put the surrogate’s pay in an escrow account that was supposed to be handled by a bonded escrow agency.

The process cost each hopeful parent thousands of dollars, and Blosser said Wednesday that he helped hundreds of people around the world get children.

“Communication is so important during your surrogacy journey! We are always available to assist you!” The Surrogacy Group’s web site reads.

The business grew fast, and Blosser encountered health and personal problems, prosecutors said. Instead of scaling back and being frank with his clients about his troubles, he strung them along or ignored them altogether. In some cases, prosecutors alleged, he pitted the intended parents and their surrogate against each other with lies.

In some fraud cases, Assistant U.S. Attorney Leo Wise said, victims can walk away from the arrangement.

But that was not the case here because Blosser “had these people over a barrel, the likes of which I couldn’t even imagine.

“Their money was gone, but their babies were literally being carried by these surrogates ... who in many cases they had no relationship with,” Wise said. “It’s hard to imagine a worse situation that you could put someone in.”

Some said they lost so much money that their dream of becoming a parent may never be realized.

“By the time I save up enough money, I will be a lot older, and even then, I wonder if I can trust another agency to fulfill my lifelong desire to be a father,” said the first victim, who lives in India. “Because of that deception, I am childless and my father died longing to see his grandchild.”

One victim was ripped off previously in a similar surrogacy scam, and told Blosser his concern about placing his trust in another firm.

“He reassured me he would provide me with a child,” the man said in court.

But he encountered problem after problem with Blosser.

Blosser’s plea agreement details only seven such victims, from Maryland, North Carolina and Virginia, as well as Germany and Australia. But prosecutors say there were dozens more.

A victim from Louisiana told Hollander that Blosser didn’t take care of required paperwork, resulting in a more than three year ordeal during which his child was “legally in limbo” after being born.

The attorneys general of Maryland and Florida first took action against Blosser in 2019, and he was ordered to pay $2 million in penalties and to the victims later that year. Federal criminal charges of wire fraud came the following spring.

Blosser’s attorneys asked that he receive no jail time beyond the five days he served after his arrest, which they said traumatized him, and said he had been impacted shame and negative press.

Hollander called the request ridiculous.

Blosser apologized and said he took full responsibility.

“I lied to the people who trusted me about the most important process of their lives,” he said. “I failed them in the worst way possible.”

Hollander noted that Blosser had “helped to achieve 454 births.”

But she noted the amount of time the deception went on, and the deep impact on the victims.

“This kind of case is not simple fraud,” she said. “It’s about far more than money.”