(♪) (♪) down in the east bay. what we know about who was on board and where the plane took off from. good afternoon. thanks for joining us. i'm kristen sze. sky

seven was over the hills south of livermore, where a small plane crashed this morning, and the single engine cessna landed upside down. as you can see, this is near the alameda santa clara county line, just off mines road. officials say they got a911 call from someone inside the plane, which took off from concord. the faa says the plane went down around 915, and only the pilot was on board. abc seven did get ahold of him, and he told us he's doing fine. one person was seen going back into the aircraft and then walking away with a tire as first responders stood by. big news out of the east bay, where chevron announced it is moving its headquarters to houston. the company has called california home for more than 140 years, and currently is based out of san ramon, roughly 2000 employees work at the office in the bishop ranch business park. contra costa county officials say this move is not a total surprise, with the state really shifting toward clean energy. chevron has also reportedly issued warnings about

california's regulations and expressing not liking them. the move will not impact chevron's richmond refinery. vice president kamala harris has picked up enough votes today to lock up the democratic presidential nomination. two weeks before the convention in chicago. she is also expected to name her running mate. possibly this weekend. abc news reporter morgan norwood shows us who may be on that list. >> vice president kamala harris is officially the democratic presidential nominee. the announcement after she secured the magic 1975 votes from convention delegates, harris marking the moment with the virtual announcement as your future president, i know we are up to this fight and when we fight, everyone will say in unison, we win. with harris now officially on the democratic ticket, sources say the search for her vp pick entering its final phase with harris narrowing down the shortlist herself, which includes pennsylvania governor josh shapiro, along with several

others. >> mark kelly, democratic senator of arizona also on that shortlist, tim walz, governor of minnesota. also on that list. j.b. pritzker on the list. >> meanwhile, president joe biden says he's spoken with vice president kamala harris about her search but deferred to her decision when asked about qualities the vp candidate should have. i'll let her work that out. new fivethirtyeight polling numbers show harris and former president donald trump are in a razor thin race. harris with 45% support compared to trump's 43.5 key swing states, also virtually tied in pennsylvania. harris, at 45% and trump at 44.5. and in georgia, trump with a one point lead over harris. as this race narrows, trump preparing to spend the weekend on the campaign trail with the rally saturday in georgia. and after telling his supporters that he would debate vp harris trump on fox business, appearing to question whether he might debate, i mean, right now, i say, why should i do a debate? >> i'm leading in the polls. >> and harris is expected to

announce who her running mate will be by tuesday. from there, she'll take her vp pick on the road, focusing in on swing states. morgan norwood, abc news, new york. >> turning now to the weather. it's going to be warm for parts of the bay area today, but what about your weekend? let's get a look at the forecast with abc seven news meteorologist drew tuma. >> we're looking at satellite and radar high pressure is in control and it will change a little bit closer to us tomorrow. keeping that warming trend with us. but what we're watching is all this cloud cover, the monsoonal moisture. it's that time of the year. we have to track the chance of showers locally. we don't have the chance of showers. we have this cloud cover moving in, but to our east and to our north there is the chance of some showers. look at the moisture content associated with it. that's why it feels a touch humid out there this afternoon. and as we head towards saturday that moisture lifts off to the north. but we'll still have that chance of some thunderstorms possible to our north even as we head into the start of the weekend. so it's for that fact. the fire weather outlook today does outline a huge portion of

california, essentially up and down the sierra for the chance of dry lightning. that does include south lake tahoe, and that just means that our vegetation has been so dry because of the record warmth last month, that any new thunderstorms could spark some new fires. that's why the red flag warning in effect for parts of kern county, parts of the sierra, even to our north, a red flag warning is in effect for that threat of those thunderstorms. no threat here, but we're noticing those clouds arriving. we will have temperatures still quite warm today in the 90s, inland, 70s and 80s around the bay shoreline. so highs today mix of sun and clouds. it is mild this afternoon. 80s and 90s on the board for the south bay up along the peninsula. we'll hit 84 for redwood city, 76 mountain view 60s along the coast across the city today we'll find mid 60s to the lower 70s for daytime highs in the north bay. it is warm 92 in calistoga, 89 in san rafael, the same in nevada, about 92 in vallejo. the east bay today mid 70s to the lower 80s. 75 in

oakland, 80 in fremont, 82. castro valley and inland. it's hot upper 90s for brentwood, antioch 95. in concord, 93, in walnut creek. overnight tonight will still have those clouds in our sky. so it's a mix of stars and clouds. the mild air hangs on away from the coast. look at this mid 60s to the lower 70s overnight tonight, which leads to an even warmer afternoon tomorrow inland. accuweather seven day forecast showing you sun and clouds today. warm to hot tomorrow. minor cooling on sunday. both days this weekend you will have a lot of sunshine in the afternoon. the next week, tuesday and wednesday. it is full sunshine and we are heating up again away from the coast guys. >> all right. thank you. drew. up next an international investigation into a financial nightmare that some bay area families face tens of thousands of dollars saved up and set aside for surrogate services. suddenly gone. dan noyes and the abc7 news i-team is on

company to hold money for the surrogate's fees and medical expenses, but now the company has shut down and their money is gone. abc7 news i-team reporter dan noyes has been working with abc news and our sister stations across the country on this investigation. and dan joins us now with the latest on this really bombshell story that affects so many people, chris, it really is it's affecting hundreds of people across the country and even overseas. >> the allegation comes from court documents that the owner of that escrow company used more than $10 million from parents hoping to have a baby to fund a lavish lifestyle in come ye.

>> yeah, yeah. >> cindy be invited me into a room at kaiser santa rosa to see her husband and their daughter, mira, born just this past monday, using a surrogate who happens to be a nurse at the hospital they call little mira their miracle baby. >> so thankful to her surrogate and her family and beyond. and, you know, being each other's life forever. >> ten years ago, cindy was working hard in tech and hadn't met the right person, so she froze her eggs a step. she calls liberating. after she met jorge iglesias, who works at a startup, they decided to have a child using a surrogate. they placed $60,000 into an escrow account that would pay the surrogates fees and medical expenses. >> i score. account was the easiest part in my mind that that should be the least of our worries. >> when you have to think about who's going to carry your baby for nine months, how do you develop that trust? or how do you get to pick someone? that should be the hardest part, and

in this case, it's the opposite. >> they use an escrow company out of houston run by a woman who identified herself as a former surrogate. dominique said, i'm the owner of surrogacy escrow account management, better known as seam. seam slogan will handle the money you handle what matters. in court filings, dominique side is accused of using hundreds of her clients money in a fraudulent way to fund a lavish lifestyle. as a vegan influencer. i'm some messy type, but i can make you eat up as a rap artist and r&b singer, pouring more than $6 million into this recording facility called vegan bay studios, and more of her clients money into real estate holdings, a vegan market in houston and a clothing line. she made several appearances on social media as a serial entrepreneur. >> it's like we rent cars, we have investment properties, we do publishing for music and, yeah, there's a lot going on here. >> the first sign of trouble for

cindy and george was just last month, and then our surrogate got paid for me, and then for june, there was no payment. >> cindy immediately contacted seem and got this form, emailed back. >> the following message is a public statement released by sole owner dominique. >> side side's message is also now on the company's answering machine. >> my company and i have been noticed that we are subject to an active investigation by federal authorities under advice of counsel. i am not permitted to respond to any inquiries regarding the investigation. >> the fbi's houston division is trying to identify potential victims, asking them to fill out this online survey. did you wire money? what is the total amount? how much are you owed? >> and they were used for dominique's own life to fund her lifestyle, to fund her businesses, to grow her businesses, and essentially to hide it from all of the intended families. >> attorney marianne robach represents some three dozen former seem clients in this

hearing. two weeks ago, robach was able to freeze dominique side's assets in her court filing, robach cites a facebook group called seam breach, which includes more than 600 families with more than $10 million in escrow funds that appear to have vanished. neither dominique side nor representative attended the hearing, but her music business partner and gospel singer anthony hall, testified that side reported herself to the fbi. >> what did she tell you? she had done? >> that there was some mismanagement of funds? >> abc news and our sister stations across the country have been documenting how this case is growing, interviewing couple after couple who say they've lost money given to the escrow company for safekeeping. >> there just isn't the kind of regulation that we need to keep everyone safe. >> from new york to north carolina, she should never be able to impact people like this. >> what are our next steps? what

are we going to do? like where do we go from here from atlanta to boise, idaho? >> how does someone take advantage of a community that is already so vulnerable, so emotionally, financially stretched already, like it's sick? >> despite our combined efforts, we've been unable to reach dominique's side. our reporter went to one of her properties in new orleans and spoke with syed's mother. >> i mean, i know my daughter. i know how type of person she is, and i know she wouldn't intentionally do anything to hurt anybody. >> one other note about 40 french couples are also caught up in this controversy because surrogacy is illegal. there i met olivier lentes and didier larnach in manteca, where they had a son by surrogate on july third. >> i know that he was the most precious thing that could happen in my life, and i saw him for the first time and i'm thinking to say they're staying at an airbnb until they can get a passport for little lucas, the history teacher and private nurse put $120,000 into a seam

escrow account and say they've lost $60,000 of it. >> i just want to have justice to be done for us and for everybody. what does justice look like for you? >> she have to get back the money to as possible to everybody. and i think she could apologize about what she's doing, apologize and be going to jail. you think that she deserves jail? >> of course. >> we are getting calls from other victims. and if you've lost money to this company, contact the fbi. we're posting the link on our website, abc7 news.com. i'd also like to hear from you for our next reports at 1888 40 i-team's kristen, dan, one of the women in the piece, said, what are we going to do now? >> i imagine the answer is different from all of them. they're in different financial places and places in their journey to parenthood. so what are they going to do? >> well, some are going to sue. some are thinking that we don't really have the money to sue. but you think about it, some couples have their babies

already, right? and they're very happy about that. others are just starting the process. they've just had the embryos implanted and so they have to pay for that health care for their surrogate. and since so they're out that money, some couples are not in a very good position to pay for that. maybe they don't have savings, maybe they don't have such great careers. maybe they don't have family like the french couple has family that are helping them out with their expenses. >> boy, you know, this story was also interesting to me in the sense that i didn't know that this was a common practice. it sounds like for people to use an escrow company to pay the surrogates. >> well. exactly right. and you know, as a surrogate, you want to make sure that the money is there. you don't want to have to be arguing with the couple, perhaps for every bill that comes down the pike. and so if you're a surrogate, the money goes into a pot. and so any expense you have is going to be paid by that escrow company. and typically an escrow company gets between 1200 and $1800 of fee per escrow account. that's what dominique's side should have gotten as her fee. instead, it appears that she kind of raided the couple's money for her own

lavish lifestyle. >> okay, so how do people find a reputable escrow company? >> you know, it's kind of the wild west. it really is. i mean, there's not that much oversight. so you have to try to do some due diligence. i mean, the couples in our piece here talk to their lawyers, they they talked word of mouth to other people. and dominique, side and seam had a pretty good reputation until it all blew up just last month. yeah. so you have to try to check it out, but it's hard. you sometimes don't really get the real story. yeah. >> and it's interesting too, because she has the big social media presence. and sometimes when you think someone is so public like that, it can't be that they're planning anything bad because they're so public, you know? >> but it's weird that a social media presence is for other things besides being in the surrogate industry. >> yeah. so, dan, do you think there are other victims out there? and i guess what should people do if they think, oh, you know, maybe i was victimized. yeah. >> there are other victims out there. you know, we think that there are at least 600 victims from scene, perhaps more. and they say also to contact the fbi

out of their houston division. they have an online app, but also i'd like to hear because because we're going to be doing more stories as well, to follow up on this case and make sure that it gets done. it reaches justice at a point in time, and you guys are going to still try to chase down dominique's side, right? we've been trying at different properties across the country and as you saw that reporter in new orleans knocking on the door there, we think that she was there, but she didn't come to the door. all right. >> we'll sure you'll stay on top of it. thank you so much. thanks, christa. we're going to shift gears here. coming up in need of a laugh. comedian sebastian maniscalco is coming to town. hear from him on why he is so excited

movie. he is now on a 56 show nationwide tour, including a stop in san francisco august 18th. we caught up with sebastian this morning on abc seven at seven.

>> really, really excited to be in san francisco. i used to. i used to perform at cobb's comedy club, punchline. and now coming to the chase center arena is something that i never would imagine. so looking forward to it. it ain't right for the tour, and there's a lot of things ain't right in the world. >> so, okay, i got to tell you what ain't right, though, because your videos have been shared with me for a specific reason in the last few months summer months. we get the kids in the pool. everyone has been sharing your bit about the beautiful honeymooning couple, specifically because you talk about an eight year old kid who is wearing spf 3000, wearing all of the swimming apparatuses, wearing long sleeved, fully covered up, all of that. and everyone is like, this is you, amanda. you have an issue. let your kid enjoy. why? why would you do that to me? because everyone sends it to me. that's been like such a personal thing. >> oh, i mean, a lot of these

kids look like mimes out there while they're swimming, you know, they're they're, growing up, i don't know, i don't think we ever used any type of sun protection. they put us out there in shorts, and we stayed out there for ten hours, and we came home, read as a lobster, and i seem to be fine. but now everybody has every floating apparatus, goggles. the kid can't go in in the in the pool without goggles. and my kids, specifically, you know, we heat the pool up here, and every time we go on vacation, they say that the pool is cold. i go pools cold. growing up, i had a little small pool in the back, backyard. and the lining was on the grass. and there was always they always put it over rocks and rough gravel. so when you jumped in, you sliced your leg open. >> all right. so i know that we're talking a lot about the summertime, but this is no vacation coming up. this is a marathon of a tour. 56 shows. how does one prepare for that?

>> well, you know, i've been i've been doing this material now for two years at comedy clubs in las vegas. and, i've been honing the act and i'm always adding new material to, to, to my, my routine just because i get bored and i need to, you know, just keep it fresh, even for myself. so. yeah, i mean, there's also some, you know, i'm very physical on stage, so. yeah, i've been taking pilates. not necessarily for the stage just because i'm 51 and i can't move any more. so. yeah, it's been fantastic. >> yeah. and so i know that you had mentioned that you've been doing this for decades. when did you realize, hey, i made it. >> you know, i don't know, i guess i made it when i stopped waiting tables. i used to work at the four seasons hotel for seven years. and, as soon as i left that job, i actually, i remember when i left it, it was march 13th, 2005. so i think that's, for me, that was when i, when i started doing this for a living. i'm like, you know, i

made it everything on top of this, whether it be the movies or podcasting or tv shows that have been gravy. that's all i ever wanted to do was stand up comedy. and, now to be coming to san francisco, such a beautiful city. and, and they're so savvy. they're, you know, san francisco has always been a place where people have been, extremely comedy savvy, so. can't wait. yeah. >> and you got to talk to me. i know you're saying we're comedy savvy here. what is it about a san francisco audience that really gets you going? >> i don't know, i mean, for me, you know, i live in california, so, every time i go up north, i got married up in napa. so, i don't know. i just find the people up there to have a great sense of humor, and they could kind of laugh at themselves. so, for me, it's just a no brainer. and the material i'm doing is all observational stuff anyway. it's not. it's not. i never rely on any politics or anything like that. i think people are are sick of, tuning on the tv or the laptop or the iphone and who's better, this candidate or that

candidate? i stay away from all that. i just want you to come to my show. forget about your problems for about an hour and a half, and then and be done with it. >> all right? no. no politics. i hear you. but when we talk about trending topics, i mean, the super mario brothers movie, that was huge. spike here, you really launched their career. they were working for you. both luigi and mario, and you're the main character. yeah, >> it was great. i got kids, so i got a kid five and seven. so for them to come to the movies and see me as an animated character and the voice and whatnot, they're like, blown away, like, oh my god, that's daddy. that's that's that's spike. so it's funny, i went to universal studios and i said, oh, they've got a super mario brothers store. let's go and get daddy stuffed animal. nothing. no. spike nothing. no buttons. nothing. they made nothing of the spike character. but, that's kind of been the story of my career. >> the bay area is well represented at the summer

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the event since 1960. >> it's incredible to think that i know eisenhower was the president when that last happened. you know, my father wasn't born yet. >> having 60, 64 years since the last time that this was brought home for the united states in the men's four event is just extra, extra sweet. >> i might be sort of overly confident in the middle of the race, but i knew within the first ten strokes, about 600m to go, you know, a little a little

over a minute. >> 45 in the race left, i, i figured that the only way we wouldn't win is if we messed something up terribly, and they didn't. >> the team represents the california rowing club, based in oakland liam corrigan, michael grady, justin best and nick meets say they're proud to represent the us and the bay area. >> i spent the last five and a half years of my life there. it's going to be something that i take take with me for the rest of my life. >> i think it's unique in that you can grow year round, it's got plenty of waterways to choose from, whether you're on the estuary in oakland or you go down south to the redwood shores, you know, started my adult life in oakland. >> i drove across the country, after college at age 22, to chase my olympic dream there. and, you know, i found both success in my sport, but also, kind of a home away from home, living in alameda, working in san francisco, you know, training on the oakland estuary,

alameda estuary. you know, i've fallen in love with the place. >> i'm just so happy we get to bring something positive back and something that, you know, the bay area can be proud of because did many, many miles up and down the estuary, you know, going under the jack london bridge or over the jack london tunnel and under the park street bridge, and lots of exploring in the oakland hills. >> there you go. oakland is proud of you. they've been rowing together for about one year. remember, abc7 news is streaming 24 over seven. get the abc7 bay area app and join us whenever you want, wherever >> whit: tonight, vice president kamala harris secures the democratic party presidential nomination. and breaking right now, dangerous storms rolling into the northeast. plus a state of emergency in florida. first, vice president kamala harris making history. demo