Original subtitles

The most disturbing thing we heard about

is a rumor that Leon and Jonathan would mix sperm

before they donated it to women

so that they could have this sort of sick game

about trying to guess who the father was.

Jonathan might not actually be the biological father.

Within 24 hours of us hearing about this,

we ordered a DNA test because we wanted to be sure.

The two weeks waiting for the results, those were long.

- That was horrible. It just took forever. - It took forever.

Two weeks is a very long time if you really, really want to know the results.

Results were that they were a 100% match.

The same DNA as Jonathan.

That was a big relief.

There is always a possibility

I have gotten semen of somebody else inside me.

I have no idea.

He would never stop donating.

So we decided that someone actually had to intervene

in the court of law and actually stop him.

I remember that day, one of the moms calling me and telling me this story.

And I remember hearing that story and thinking, "Wow."

My mouth fell open.

This man, he looked like the father of their dreams.

And they saw their dream turning into a nightmare.

He first lied to moms he met on the Internet.

Then he lied to 11 clinics in the Netherlands.

Then he lied to clinics abroad.

It was all about lying about the amount of kids.

I thought, "This is something that's terribly wrong."

Then she gave me a huge database.

In the database was a map containing all the information

about the amount of children that he had.

This is not a national problem.

It's a worldwide problem because this guy has children everywhere.

Okay.

They wanted him to stop donating

and ask the clinics to destroy all the semen in stock.

The only way to stop him was going to court.

Okay.

Something like this never happened before,

so we knew we will be walking into legal no-man's-land.

And I said to her, "I will think about it. I will call you back."

We had to think about it. "Can we take a case like this?"

It's always going to boil down to can you stop someone from procreating?

When the mothers reached out to me,

I could tell them the legal framework in the US,

which was clearly very limited.

What can we do? How can we do it?

And you really have to think outside of the box and get creative.

And then I told a colleague of mine,

"I think there is a way we can solve this."

SECTION 1 GENERAL PROVISIONS

There is this article in Dutch law

that states you should not cause harm to other people.

This problem is bigger than just these hundreds of children.

This problem will go on and on

because these children will have children, and they will have children.

And we could provide evidence

that it could be potentially harmful for these children

to be part of such a big family.

So this is a very dangerous situation.

We're talking about a chance of inbreeding.

Let's just say that if one donor had 500 offspring,

we could realistically say that in 100 years,

they could have 15,000 descendants.

That is a huge biodiversity concern.

If family members meet and they don't know that they are related,

then that genetic connection can be mistaken for love.

This is a scientifically documented phenomenon

that's called genetic sexual attraction.

Even if you don't have a child,

learning that you have hooked up with your half-sibling

or first cousin or second cousins,

or that you fell in love,

or you even had a crush on a half-sibling,

the psychological impact of that is pretty significant.

This was a potentially dangerous situation for the kids,

and this man could be committing an unlawful act.

So we knew we had a case, but the issue was

it might take a year or two until you have a verdict.

In the meantime, this man was able to procreate.

This man could procreate pretty fast,

so in a year, he might have procreated, like, 100 extra times.

You feel really powerless because you see the problem is getting bigger and bigger,

and you cannot stop him.

Each week, each month

that he's continuing,

there will be more children.

We can only imagine the numbers after two years.

We knew we needed to convince the judge that action was necessary

in a couple of weeks instead of in a couple of years.

We thought he might say, "I stopped donating."

'Cause that's what he always tells.

So we needed hard-copy evidence that he was still donating.

They needed definite proof that he was still active

because you don't need to stop someone that has already stopped.

And we knew. We just couldn't prove it.

And then one of the moms came up with an idea.

We are going to play him at his own game.

Okay. Set and go.

I am an actress sitting in for a real mom.

In reality, I don't look like this, but my words are real.

Okay, and action.

I used Jonathan as a sperm donor, but I'm hiding my identity

because I don't want him to find out who I am.

We need proof that Jonathan is still donating sperm.

And I know he is not going to admit this to any one of us.

I needed to pretend that I was a new mom searching for a sperm donor.

Jonathan has my number. So what do I do?

I get a free SIM card, and I put it into an old phone.

I set about creating a fake Instagram account.

First, I google some nice ladies.

I knew from the other moms that Jonathan likes

straight, single, pretty women in their thirties.

I call myself Anouk.

I write, "Hey, I am a new mom, and I am looking for a sperm donor."

"I saw you in the media, and I think you make nice babies."

"Are you still donating?"

He replies straight away.

I ask him about himself.

"Do you have any nice hobbies?" Try to build a connection.

He sends me a heavy metal song that he has composed.

♪ It's the Dutch rebel ♪

♪ Back with a new track ♪

♪ And a new album... ♪

It is really hurting my ears.

I say, "Ooh, it sounds lovely."

I am giggling because I can see how hard he is trying to impress me.

It's going on a while, and then he says,

"If you ever want to go camping, you are more than welcome,"

and he sends me pictures of some chopped wood

along with a video of a cozy campfire.

I think he's getting a bit flirty.

So I flirt back.

I tell him that I'm an amateur photographer...

...with a special interest in spicy content.

And then he asks me for another picture.

I'm like, "Oh shit, this could blow my cover."

I'm fast googling.

And I find a picture that looks like this woman,

but it needs to be spicy.

I find a woman in a bikini.

And then he gets very excited.

Very excited.

He's blinded by these pictures,

and he is not thinking anymore.

He is only thinking with his pinky.

I just need him to go one step further

to prove that he's still willing to donate.

I'm thinking, "Come on, Jonathan. Arrange a day to meet with me."

"Say you want me to have your sperm."

I keep on messaging, luring him in, until...

he offers up a date.

Yes! We have him.

I take some screenshots of his messages,

and I send it immediately to the other moms.

I receive some screenshots

showing that he was willing to donate to new moms again.

Then we thought, "Okay, now we do have the evidence

to convince the judge that the speed procedure was necessary."

So the court had set a date for the oral hearing.

My bailiff was standing in front of his door

with a subpoena with a court date.

He texted to the mom.

"Haha. Nice letter. Too pathetic for words."

"Good luck with it, kid."

So he obviously did not take it seriously.

Well, it wasn't a joke.

Then the message came that the court case had to be delayed

because he was travelling to Kenya.

And then suddenly there's this video.

"Hi, welcome to my video blog."

"When traveling in Africa, eat this."

Biltong is basically dried beef.

At this moment, he doesn't have a steady job.

How does he have the means to go to Kenya?

Is there somebody paying for his ticket to come to Kenya?

So we went online, and we started digging around.

And we stumbled on a Facebook group

which is about donors in Kenya.

And there was this video from a sperm bank.

A Kenyan clinic requires European donors

and offers an all-expense, two-week trip to Mombasa.

You must do six collections on alternating days at the clinic, and...

And there's a doctor looking for European sperm donors.

Two-week vacation. Flights, stay in a hotel, food.

All paid for by the clinic.

It raised some alarm bells.

Like, he couldn't be possibly donating

just before a court case to stop him, right?

Or could he?

So we started digging around more.

The group was recently created.

Three people are made admin.

Anthony Greenfield, Joe Donor, Kyle Gordy.

What is really, really shocking is that those are mass donors.

So Mary also wants a baby. Mary's also very interested.

- You also want a... - Yeah.

You also want spermination? Also interested?

These mass donors, they show off how many children they have.

This will probably be 42 or 43.

I'm like Superman.

They go online to lure women in.

Send Joe a message on the day that your period starts

in the cycle in which you wish to fall pregnant.

And I remember us looking at those videos.

We were like, "You gotta be kidding me."

So we're watching the group to see what's happening.

And then a new person is added.

The other donors called him the Lion of Mombasa.

The Lion of Mombasa.

Who is this person? Why is he anonymous?

"Could it be Jonathan?" is the first thing that springs to mind.

In his profile with Cryos, his favorite animal was a lion.

Watching his videos,

he certainly is obsessionally attracted to the position of a lion.

My favorite animal

of the animal kingdom,

the lion.

"You look like an animal a bit. You look like a lion, maybe."

Sure. I heard that before.

He's the alpha male sitting on the top of the rock,

looking at his grand progeny.

And then there's this post where they mention a gathering,

a gathering of all the mass donors.

What are their plans? What the fuck are they up to?

I'm trying to understand.

Like, what do you think is going on in Kenya, and why?

So one of my sources is friends with a bunch of those mass donors.

And so I started asking him questions

to kind of get a better understanding of what was really going on.

When you got in that group, did you see anything else?

Did you learn any more?

And because the mass donors talk, they talk about the different hotspots.

Like, Brazil right now is a hotspot.

Certain parts of Asia.

In Kenya, there's a huge demand for sperm.

And so the quickest way to fill up those sperm banks

so they're not importing that sperm is to get these serial donors over there.

And when you read the messages between my source and these donors,

it all becomes clear.

Anthony said that the clinic had flown him over,

paid for his flight, his hotel, and his entire stay

until he donated 500 straws.

And those vials would fill up the tank.

What Anthony said was that he was actually there

being milked as a cow.

And that the goal of the clinic is to make 200 babies a year.

- With his sperm. - With his sperm.

All these serial sperm donors have deemed Kenya the new promised land.

And then Anthony says he wants to...

"...bleach Africa."

It's horrifically racist.

It is so beyond sick.

That's something so vile and so nasty and so degrading.

They go from country to country spreading their seed.

And so I think that they have global ambitions.

What I believe to be true is that Jonathan found a way

to make as many children as possible through partnering with this clinic.

It's probably fair to assume that he's part of the...

Sperm-donor racket.

...the Kenyan sperm-donor racket that is happening right now.

Everything looks like it's set up to be big.

Two hundred babies a year from one donor.

If this is true and fact,

then what we have been looking at for the last 12 years...

I'll say, for example, maybe 1,200 children.

This is nothing compared to what we'll be looking at

in five years' time when Kenya is through with them.

That's why the court case... the court case is so important.

- This could set a precedent. - A precedent.

Not only for Jonathan but for any other donor

that considers they may... they may wanna do this in the future.

The judge stated, "Can you promise that you will be there on the new date?"

So, yeah, then he had to promise that.

On the day of the trial, we had a normal morning with breakfast.

Serial sperm donor Jonathan Jacob Meijer

will be appearing in court today

accused of being a public health risk.

In an unprecedented case,

the courts may stop his reproductive rights.

We left the house. We take the kids to school,

and we drove to the courtroom.

There was lots of uncertainty. You're not sure what you're walking into.

You're not sure what you're going to get, so you're in suspense.

Almost 50 women have submitted statements supporting the case.

...and how they may have to tell their children

they have thousands of siblings.

I hope the court case will stop him

because my child should... should have a normal life.

It's one of those situations where it's a horror movie,

and you're just waiting for the credits to end.

PALACE OF JUSTICE

We were the first ones to arrive at the court.

We saw everybody coming in.

The news from all over the world was coming over to our little country.

We were kind of caught off guard how big this story would become.

The Dutch man is facing legal action

for allegedly fathering at least 550 children.

In the Netherlands, the law allows a maximum of 25 children

in no more than 12 families.

Mainly to avoid them having relationships without knowing it.

More than 500 children?! Whoa! How did he do it?

I was thinking, "Oh my God, this court case is gonna be massive."

And I think that Jonathan must have been nervous.

Rightfully so.

He appeared very, very nervous.

He had sweat on his forehead.

And he was constantly playing with his hair.

She was putting the children to bed.

The court case was just about to start.

There was a fantastic journalist who was covering the court case

from the very beginning right to the end.

Everything that was happening, she was right onto it.

- We didn't need to be in the room, did we? - No.

I'm trying to visualize what was actually happening.

I made a statement. I wrote a statement.

My main goal is to change regulation

and to open eyes.

We were proud to be one of the 50 or so families

that submitted a statement.

I love the fact the judge would see all the moms.

That really helped to create a picture

that this man is making victims and that this must be stopped.

The claimants state that Jonathan's mass donating

causes a serious risk of incest to his donor children.

This is in violation of the human rights of the children.

We were very curious on how was he going to spin this

so that the judge might accept it.

He is quite a good manipulator.

We were anticipating, you know,

is now the moment he will finally open up?

And he would at least share more about the reasons why he's doing this.

For me, it was very important to hear him talk about what he had done,

why he had done it, and what his reasons were.

I really, really want to know what he's... he's thinking.

The judge addresses Meijer directly.

She asks him, "What does he think of many mothers' fears

that it is not good for their children to have so many half-siblings?"

When he got up to talk,

he'd come up with something you hear about in movies but not in real life.

The defense argues that if they are worried about incest,

his donor children can use a social-media symbol

to identify themselves as one of his children.

There is an audible gasp in the room.

Jonathan said that the children

should have a symbol on their social-media account

so they know they're from donor-daddy Jonathan.

It was a horrible suggestion.

A lot of children may not want to have to display a symbol.

A lot of those children may want to maintain their privacy.

But it's also that he limited the children to his genetics being their identity.

It's... it's... it's disgusting.

I thought it couldn't get any more shocking until I read the next tweet.

Meijer said, and I kid you not,

"This is an entirely new concept, and it's up to us as adults to shape it."

I was puzzled by his response.

I was like, "What do you mean?"

"Our kids are a concept? Like in a new experiment or something?"

The judge wanted to know exactly what that means.

Jonathan starts explaining that he is a donor plus.

So all of those children are able to reach out to him,

and he will be there for them.

The risk of them falling in love with each other,

that's not really a problem,

because they all know that they have a donor,

and that's Jonathan, right?

He goes to birthday parties. He goes to baptisms,

and then he meets all the children.

And then the judge looked at him.

She was quiet for a little bit, and then she said,

"How do you see that happening with 600 children?"

"You cannot go to 600 graduations. You cannot go to 600 birthdays."

"How do you see that happening?"

And he never really gave a real answer.

I have my thoughts.

There are children out there that... that he's never gonna meet.

But they are gonna meet him through his YouTube channel.

Yeah, it could be.

Say hi to my, uh, video blog!

And he uses this YouTube channel to be a teacher.

I'm not selling you anything. I'm just spreading teachings,

and I have a passion for... for truth and for reality.

And I want to share this with other people. That's my passion.

So Jonathan knows for sure

that those children will be looking for him.

You can safely assume that everything that he posts

is also a message to them.

If you still have a television, throw it away.

I don't believe in science. Science is just stories.

Connect with nature.

There's no such thing as "inequality."

But it's almost like parenting from afar.

"This is my opinion. This is my philosophy."

It really has a sense of "Look, children. This is who you are."

Worshiping your ancestors.

Your ancestors are gods.

They gave you life.

God gave life to us all, but he gave your ancestors life,

and they created you.

And maybe this is the reason why he's doing what he's doing.

To be worshiped, to be needed, to be like a new Jesus.

He's pushed out 650 videos,

carefully curated to only validate one narrative and reality,

which is his.

It reminds me of... it reminds me of a cult.

I definitely think it's... it's come to a point where he's feeling now that he has

a worldwide genetic power.

If this is his goal, then... then, well, that... that's some...

That's disturbing.

- Fucked up-shit, I would say, but... Yeah. - Yeah.

The children have the right to know my identity.

The chance that they will meet up and have children together,

it's just like zero.

You know, sometimes I'm jealous that they have their family,

and I'm not having a family yet.

For me, they're not a number, the children. I really love them.

He's just the biggest narcissist there is.

The reactions in the room,

they... they were of unbelief.

You could just hear... ...throughout the courtroom.

You heard all of the parents gossiping amongst each other.

And then I remember saying, "At the end of the day,

the judge has a decision to make."

"She can either do what is right, or she can do what is easy."

- Because you're asking for a lot... - Yeah.

...when you're asking for major laws to be changed.

We really had no clue which way they would go.

We had no court cases or law cases to pull from in general.

Eve?

- Hi. - Hi.

How are you? How are you feeling?

It was kind of what I expected from what he had to say.

And he was, uh, playing, um, the victim.

It's not over yet.

No, it's not over yet.

In two... In two weeks, we get some, uh, answers.

I feel sick about it.

I just can't tell which way the judge is going to go.

Our only hope was that the judge would feel confident enough

to be able to say, "This is wrong," and to align morality and legality.

She'd be breaking new ground.

Think of the judges who ruled on civil rights,

gender equality, abortion rights.

She'd be setting a precedent that would be making history.

You have got to have balls of steel to do that.

So I was hopeful,

but I was not confident.

- Today's the day. - Today's the day.

We are waiting for the court to bring out the ruling.

Yeah. Hopefully the judge sees the urgency, that this needs to stop.

We have our own beliefs. We have our own values.

But will the judge see those?

I was so nervous. I had a knot in my stomach.

I was like, "Oh my God. Oh my God."

Of course I had faith in the judge, but I was very worried.

We were communicating with all these families.

All of a sudden, it just went silent.

And then the whole neighborhood must have heard me going,

"Oh my God!"

The judge forbids Jonathan...

To donate new semen. If he does that...

He gets a fine of €100,000.

Yes!

This is better than we expected.

I was really screaming here.

We're on a campsite, and the whole campsite heard me.

We were camping that weekend. We were like, "Yay! Yay!"

"You have to get some cake."

- It was good cake. - Yes.

It was very good cake.

I'm on cloud nine.

Yeah, I'm... I'm happy. I'm really happy.

Oh God!

Now I really need to dry my face.

- My God. - I would... I would argue that this is...

- This is the best outcome. - Of all the outcomes...

That was the best.

I'm so fucking happy.

Finally.

The children need to have a voice.

And the judge was the voice of these children.

I think what made it so groundbreaking was the first time ever

where a judge has ruled in favor

to restrict and control a male's bodily autonomy.

It had to come to that, um,

to stop him.

I was asleep. I woke up. It was everywhere.

A man who fathered up to 600 children worldwide

has been banned from donating sperm.

I just remember thinking, "Oh my God, they did it. Like, they won!"

Actually, I think my exact thing was like, "You got the fucker," if I'm being honest.

How he responded after the verdict

is very indicative of who he is as a person.

Jonathan, the verdict was just over a month ago now.

How do you feel sitting here today?

I don't agree with it. I feel I've been treated unfairly.

One would think that he didn't really have a leg to stand on

and would say, "All right, I have nothing more to say."

But he went on this little, kind of, pity-party media tour.

It would be more, uh, honorable

if I would be open about it, if I wouldn't lie.

I agree on that. That's not a... a good thing.

Uh, but on the other hand, you know, I spent maybe, in the 16 years,

maybe 50,000 hours of my life in helping them.

So I understand if they will be, like, a bit shocked

or said, "Okay. Well, you know, we are surprised."

But to be angry or even hateful, as some of the parents became,

that's, to me, a little bit out of... yeah, out of line, in my opinion.

Are you excited?

- We are. - Very excited.

We're nervous.

Why?

'Cause we're going to the Netherlands.

We're finally making our voyage to the Netherlands,

to finally connect with all these families and all these beautiful children,

but it is very bittersweet

because we know the truth behind the situation now, so...

At least we're all going through this together.

- We are. - It's very important we share that.

It's gonna be very...

I'm very excited, yeah. After three and a half years.

Ah!

Come here.

Wait.

It kind of feels like coming home, to be honest.

It's hard to describe, but we... we just feel the bond.

I mean, we are, like, thousands of miles away from each other.

We're like real family.

Oh, come here, girls.

Do you wanna meet some brothers and sisters?

And then have a play with them? Yeah?

Hi.

Oh!

How are you? Good? It's good to see you.

- Hi. - Hi.

- Yeah. - Yeah, got a lot to talk about.

Yeah, a lot.

It's a friendship unspoken. It's almost like...

Sister Wives.

I make that joke all the time.

It's kind of like Sister Wives

'cause, you know, we've all got... we've all got children to the same man,

and we all know him intimately

in a very weird, unusual, skew-whiff kind of a way.

Through our children.

It's like a language that only we speak.

Oh my gosh! I can't believe it.

Oh my gosh. Where are your...

Oh my God, your babies. Oh my God.

The children see each other, and they have this instant connection.

That is so weird and almost magical to see

that all of them have this, sort of, recognition in each other.

It's been, uh, a... a real...

- Whirlwind. - Yeah, that's the right word.

It's been a whirlwind of, um, feelings

and a sense of loss and then obviously a sense of gain.

It's made it a lot more real, if that makes sense,

because when you live in a different country so far away

and you don't have anyone to connect with in the same situation,

it's, um... it's quite isolating, you know?

- But now you have us. - Yeah.

You have all of us, and we're here.

We're not on the other end of the world, but we are here.

We're there for you guys.

Always.

We all feel stretched in our feelings.

The bad thing Jonathan created

also created one big family.

That's the mixed feeling every mom has,

and that's the hard part to understand for the rest of the world.

To see a mom who's very happy and also very angry.

But the kids have to know they are very welcome and loved.

I love my child dearly,

and I'm very grateful that I'm the mother of this wonderful little boy.

Am I proud that I have my kids?

Hell yeah.

Hell yeah.

Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh!