Lauryn Galindo

American adoption facilitator who arranged roughly 700-800 Cambodian adoptions from 1990-2001, including actress Angelina Jolie's adoption of her son Maddox, before pleading guilty in 2004 to visa fraud and money laundering conspiracy.

Researched by Muhammad Abdullah Al Yasin · 14 September 2026

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Established: 1990
Location: Kauai, Hawaii (at time of her 2004 conviction)
Country: United States
Prior occupation: Described by The Cambodia Daily as a semi-professional hula dancer in Hawaii before she began working in Cambodia
Entry into adoption work: Arrived in Cambodia in 1990 accompanying actor Haing Ngor, then settled in Phnom Penh and helped create the country's first adoption documentation system
Notable placement: Facilitated actress Angelina Jolie's adoption of her son Maddox from Cambodia
Legal outcome: Pleaded guilty on June 23, 2004 to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering and structuring; sentenced to 18 months in prison
Later legal history: Found by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals in both 2021 and 2025 to have received fraudulently transferred Hawaii property from an associate, both transfers voided

Overview

Lauryn Galindo is an American former adoption facilitator who, working from Cambodia between 1990 and 2001, arranged the placement of roughly 700 to 800 Cambodian children with U.S. families — a scheme that later became the subject of a federal fraud prosecution documented in FactsLedger’s Cambodian adoption scandal profile. She is separately known for having facilitated actress Angelina Jolie’s adoption of her son Maddox, and, decades later, for a Hawaii property dispute that reached the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit twice.

Background and entry into adoption work

Before working in Cambodia, Galindo was, in The Cambodia Daily’s description, a semi-professional hula dancer in Hawaii (The Cambodia Daily). She arrived in Cambodia in 1990 accompanying the actor Haing Ngor, who had been asked by Cambodian officials to help build a school; the newspaper reported that Galindo was impressed by Cambodian leaders’ stated commitment to helping orphans, settled in Phnom Penh, and created what it described as the country’s first formal adoption-documentation system, including registration forms, release letters and certifications of orphan status.

An adoption business that grew through the 1990s

The Garden Island, a Kauai newspaper, reported that Galindo’s placement business expanded dramatically over the following decade, from roughly 40 to 50 children a year in the early 1990s to about 100 a month by the time the United States suspended Cambodian adoptions in December 2001 (The Garden Island). On the U.S. side, her sister Lynn Devin operated the agency Seattle International Adoptions, which screened prospective American families.

The Cambodia Daily’s 2002 investigative profile — titled “Is Lauryn Galindo a Baby-Buyer, a Benefactor, or Both?” — described both sides of her reputation. Supporters credited her with funding five orphanages and donating roughly $600,000 a year to children’s causes, including dental programs, literacy initiatives and school construction; two of her former drivers went on to found their own orphanages. The same article, however, reported a specific allegation from a Cambodian woman, Meas Bopha, who said that in 1997 Galindo took three of her recently born children for HIV tests without permission and then offered her $700 to give them up for adoption; Meas Bopha refused, though the paper reported that a neighbor gave up a child for $100 the same day. The Cambodia Daily described this as the only publicly known case directly implicating Galindo in trafficking at that time, and it did not report any financial contribution from Galindo to the senior Cambodian officials — including then-Senate President Chea Sim, whom Galindo described as “like a father to me” — that she counted as friends (The Cambodia Daily).

Facilitating Angelina Jolie’s adoption of Maddox

Independent of the fraud case, Galindo is separately known for having facilitated actress Angelina Jolie’s adoption of a Cambodian son, later named Maddox. Today.com, an NBC News property, reported in 2004 that Galindo “helped actress Angelina Jolie adopt her Cambodian baby son” (Today.com/NBC News), and Vice’s later reporting likewise states that Jolie adopted Maddox “as a seven-month-old in 2002” through Galindo (Vice). This connection to a prominent celebrity adoption is part of why Galindo’s case drew wider press attention than a typical adoption-fraud prosecution.

Guilty plea and sentencing

On June 23, 2004, Galindo pleaded guilty in federal court in Seattle, before Magistrate Judge Mary Alice Theiler, to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and structuring financial transactions, stemming from the misrepresentation of Cambodian children’s orphan status and identities on U.S. visa applications between January 1997 and December 2001 (U.S. Department of Justice). On November 19, 2004, U.S. District Judge Thomas Zilly sentenced her to 18 months in prison, ordered her to forfeit a $1.4 million home on Kauai, pay more than $60,000 in restitution to seven sets of adoptive parents, and complete 300 hours of community service (The Spokesman-Review). Separately, a Kauai resident, Summer Harrison, sued Galindo after adopting a daughter who had been represented as merely premature but who, Harrison said, actually had serious prenatal injuries; Harrison and another client each said they paid roughly $11,000 for their adoptions, including $3,500 in cash described as an “orphan donation fee” (The Garden Island). Vice later reported that Galindo denied wrongdoing, saying it was “the job of the Cambodians” to verify children’s identities (Vice).

Later legal history: a Hawaii property dispute

More than a decade after her conviction, Galindo became a defendant in unrelated federal litigation in Hawaii over a Princeville, Kauai apartment. In 2010, Daniel Susott — described in the case record as a close associate of Galindo’s — transferred the property to her by quitclaim deed. Creditors of Susott sued in 2016, arguing the transfer was made to shield the property from debts he owed them; the district court agreed, and the Ninth Circuit affirmed on July 26, 2021 that Susott had made the 2010 transfer “with the actual intent to hinder, delay, or defraud” the plaintiffs (Ninth Circuit memorandum, filed July 26, 2021). Within days of a related 2019 district court ruling, Susott deeded the same apartment to Galindo a second time, this time framed as compensation for her attorney’s fees and emotional distress. The district court again found the transfer fraudulent, voided it, and imposed a constructive trust for the creditors’ benefit; the Ninth Circuit affirmed that ruling on February 13, 2025, holding that Galindo remained bound by the earlier findings and had provided no reasonably equivalent value for the property (Ninth Circuit via Justia; U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii via CourtListener).

What this profile does not claim

This profile does not treat the Meas Bopha allegation, or any other unadjudicated trafficking claim reported by The Cambodia Daily, as a proven fact — it was never the subject of a separate criminal charge or civil judgment found in the sources read here, and is stated only as a reported allegation. It does not assert an audited or independently verified figure for Galindo’s charitable giving, which is drawn from claims reported by The Cambodia Daily rather than from any accounting record. It does not resolve the exact month of Angelina Jolie’s adoption of Maddox, where sources vary between late 2001 and March 2002, nor does it draw any conclusion about Maddox’s own adoption beyond what is stated: that Galindo is independently reported to have facilitated it. It does not repeat a Wikipedia claim, already addressed and left unconfirmed in FactsLedger’s main Cambodian adoption scandal profile, that Galindo made financial contributions to senior Cambodian officials — this profile’s own independent source, The Cambodia Daily, likewise does not report any such contribution. Finally, this profile does not characterize Galindo’s 2010-2025 Hawaii property litigation as connected in any way to the Cambodian adoption case; the court records describe it as a separate financial dispute between Galindo, Daniel Susott, and Susott’s creditors.

Timeline

1990: Galindo arrives in Cambodia accompanying actor Haing Ngor and begins working on adoption facilitation, later settling in Phnom Penh.
1990-2001: Her adoption-placement business grows from roughly 40-50 children a year in the early 1990s to about 100 a month by the time Cambodian adoptions to the United States were halted in December 2001.
2002-06: The Cambodia Daily publishes an investigative profile weighing trafficking allegations against her charitable claims, including an account from a Cambodian woman, Meas Bopha, alleging Galindo tried to take her children for a fee.
2002: Galindo facilitates the adoption of a Cambodian child, later named Maddox, by actress Angelina Jolie.
2004-06-23: Galindo pleads guilty in federal court in Seattle to conspiracy to commit visa fraud, conspiracy to commit money laundering, and structuring financial transactions.
2004-11-19: Galindo is sentenced to 18 months in prison, ordered to forfeit a $1.4 million Kauai home, pay more than $60,000 in restitution to seven adoptive families, and perform 300 hours of community service.
2010: Hawaii associate Daniel Susott transfers a Princeville, Kauai apartment to Galindo; a court later finds this a fraudulent conveyance intended to shield the property from Susott's creditors.
2019: Days after an adverse 2016-filed ruling, Susott transfers the same property to Galindo a second time.
2021-07-26: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms that the 2010 transfer was a fraudulent conveyance under Hawaii law.
2025-02-13: The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals affirms that the 2019 transfer was also fraudulent, voids it, and imposes a constructive trust for the plaintiff creditors' benefit.

What we could not verify

These claims came up in research and could not be confirmed. They are recorded here rather than published as fact or quietly dropped. If you hold a source that settles one, please tell us.

Sources disagree on precisely when Galindo facilitated Angelina Jolie's adoption of the child later named Maddox. Today.com (NBC News), reporting in 2004, described it as Jolie's "2001" Cambodian adoption, while Vice's later reporting and contemporary entertainment coverage (E! Online) place the adoption's finalization in Cambodia in March 2002. This profile states 2002 and does not resolve the exact month or which side of the year-end the arrangement began on.
The Cambodia Daily's 2002 profile reported claims, attributed to Galindo and her supporters, that she funded five orphanages and donated roughly $600,000 a year to children's causes in Cambodia. No independently audited accounting of this spending was found, so these figures are presented here as reported claims, not as independently verified totals.
Reported adoption fee figures differ across sources: The Cambodia Daily's 2002 reporting described a roughly $9,000 total fee ($3,500 of it a donation, $5,500 for processing), while The Phnom Penh Post's later reporting (also used in FactsLedger's main Cambodian adoption scandal profile) describes documented per-family fees of $10,000-$10,500. This profile does not assert which figure is more representative of the scheme as a whole.
The Cambodia Daily reported that Galindo described Cambodia's then-Senate President, Chea Sim, as "like a father to me" and counted other senior officials as friends, but the same article did not report any financial contribution by Galindo to those officials. This independently corroborates a similar caveat already flagged in FactsLedger's main Cambodian adoption scandal profile, which likewise could not confirm a Wikipedia claim that Galindo made financial contributions specifically to Cambodian officials.
The allegation from Meas Bopha, reported by The Cambodia Daily in 2002, that Galindo attempted to take her children for a fee was never the subject of a separate criminal charge or civil judgment found in the sources read for this profile; it is stated here only as a reported allegation, not as an adjudicated fact.
No independent reporting from 2025 or 2026 on Galindo's current activities was found beyond the February 2025 Ninth Circuit ruling. Her city of residence, San Francisco, is stated on Vice's authority alone, without a specific date attached to that detail in Vice's own reporting.
Justia's own case page for the Ninth Circuit's memorandum disposition in No. 19-15537 is served at a URL bearing the date "2021-07-09," and a direct fetch of that page renders "Date: July 9, 2021." The Ninth Circuit's own primary-source filed memorandum (fetched directly from the court's website) is clerk-stamped "FILED JUL 26 2021," which this profile treats as authoritative. This profile states the ruling date as July 26, 2021 and does not attempt to explain the discrepancy in Justia's own dating of the same document.

Sources

10 sources (8 tier 1, 2 tier 2), each opened and read against the claim it supports. Every source is independent of the subject; no first-party material is cited. See the source policy.

This profile rests on The Cambodia Daily's contemporaneous 2002 investigative report, The Garden Island's and The Spokesman-Review's contemporaneous coverage of Galindo's 2004 conviction, the U.S. Department of Justice's June 2004 press release, Vice's later reporting, Today.com/NBC News's contemporaneous reporting on her connection to Angelina Jolie's adoption, and federal appellate and district court opinions (via Justia and CourtListener) covering unrelated 2010-2025 Hawaii property litigation. Wikipedia's "Cambodian adoption scandal" article was not used as a source anywhere in this profile; candidate facts were instead identified through independent web search and each verified by fetching and reading a fresh, non-Wikipedia source before use. Galindo's role, the scale of her operation, and her conviction were already documented in FactsLedger's main profile of the Cambodian adoption scandal; this profile independently re-verifies those facts and adds biographical background, her connection to a well-known adoption, and her separate later legal history that is not part of the adoption case.

Is Lauryn Galindo a Baby-Buyer, a Benefactor, or Both? — The Cambodia Daily, 22 June 2002 · Tier 1 Supports: Galindo's background as a hula dancer, her 1990 arrival in Cambodia with Haing Ngor, the growth of her adoption-documentation system, her reported fee structure and charitable claims, her relationships with senior Cambodian officials, and the Meas Bopha allegation.
#434: Hawaii Resident Pleads Guilty in Cambodian Adoption Conspiracy — U.S. Department of Justice, 23 June 2004 · Tier 1 Supports: The exact date and charges of Galindo's guilty plea, and the presiding judge.
Woman gets 18 months in adoption conspiracy — The Spokesman-Review, 21 November 2004 · Tier 1 Supports: The date and terms of Galindo's sentencing, including restitution and forfeiture.
Jolie's adoption agent charged with fraud — Today.com / NBC News · Tier 1 Supports: Independent confirmation that Galindo facilitated Angelina Jolie's adoption of her Cambodian son, and details of the fraud charges.
US adoption agent guilty of visa fraud — The Phnom Penh Post · Tier 1 Supports: Comparison per-family fee figures cited in the open items above.
Evan Auld-Susott v. Lauryn Galindo, No. 19-15537 — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, 2021-07-26 · Tier 1 Supports: The 2010 property transfer from Daniel Susott to Galindo and the Ninth Circuit's affirmance that it was a fraudulent conveyance. The court's own filed memorandum, stamped "FILED JUL 26 2021" by the clerk, is used as the primary record of the decision date; a secondary aggregator (Justia) republishes the same opinion under a "July 9, 2021" date, which this profile does not rely on.
Evan Auld-Susott, et al. v. Lauryn Galindo, et al., No. 23-16216 — U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit (via Justia), 13 February 2025 · Tier 1 Supports: The 2019 second transfer of the same property and the Ninth Circuit's 2025 ruling voiding it.
Auld-Susott v. Galindo — U.S. District Court for the District of Hawaii (via CourtListener) · Tier 1 Supports: Background on the underlying property dispute, including the property's address and the district court's reasoning.
Adoption nightmare continues; Galindo convicted, but heartbreak lives on — The Garden Island, 2 July 2004 · Tier 2 Supports: Galindo's guilty plea, the growth of the Cambodian adoption market under her operation from the early 1990s to 2001, and the separate Summer Harrison civil lawsuit against her.
These Adoptees Were Brought to the US as Babies. Now Some Fear They Were Stolen. — Vice · Tier 2 Supports: Confirmation that Jolie adopted Maddox as a seven-month-old in 2002 through Galindo, Galindo's denial of wrongdoing, and her later residence in San Francisco.

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