Damir M and his wife, Nadica; Subosic Z and his wife, Azra; Ladislav P and his wife, Aleksandr; and Noah K and his wife, Ivona were detained in Zambia in December on charges of attempted child trafficking used travel documents obtained based on false adoption documents. The 4 children originated from the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The couples were acquitted in Zambian court.

Paul Petersen smuggled pregnant women from the Marshall Islands into at least three different states, as part of an adoption scheme. Petersen charged couples $35,000 for the adoption. Pregnant women from the islands were recruited to give birth in the United States and then give their children up for adoption. In compensation the women received $10,000 and the cost of their travel was covered.

Two sisters from Poland were sourced for adoption by European Adoption Consultants (EAC) in 2015. One of the girls was placed with a couple in Utah, who told the agency they could only care for one child. The left-over child was placed with agency worker Debra Parris son John Tufts and his wife Georgiana. The authorities in the US and in Poland were never told about this arrangement and the Tufts were never vetted by adoption officials. The girl placed with the Tufts went on to be sexually abused by her adoptive father.