Pedro Pascal is one of the most beloved actors on the planet right now. I mean, we see him everywhere. The Last of Us, The Mandalorian, Narcos, Game of Thrones, RIP, his skull. But there's a reason you've probably never heard his real last name. And that reason is his father. You see, Pedro's dad, Dr. Joseé Balmasera was once a celebrated fertility specialist in the United States, helping couples have children when all hope is lost. But behind that medical success was a secret so disturbing it triggered one of the biggest fertility scandals in recent memory. We're talking about eggs and embryos being taken from women without their consent, children being born to complete strangers, and dozens of families whose lives were changed forever. And when the truth came out, Pedro's dad actually fled the United States to escape the charges. And the fallout was so bad that Pedro dropped his father's last name entirely. And what completely shocked me when I learned about this was that there is little to nothing about this whole story online. I mean, type it into Google, Pedro Pascal's dad, and you'll find almost nothing about this. But here's the twist. Despite the horror, all of the victims, and the endless legal chaos, the way this story ends is absolutely not what you expect. This is a juicy one to say the least. So, if that sounds good to you, let's subscribe to the channel, like, stop the yapping, and let's get cracking. On April the 2nd, 1975, Pedro Pascal was born in Chile to parents Joseé Balmma and Veronica Pascal. Now, both of his parents were highly educated. Veronica was a child psychologist and Jose was a fertility doctor and a damn good one at that. But everything was about to change for them. This was about 2 years before Pedro was actually born. Chile's democratically elected government was overthrown in a military coup. And the problem was not only did Jose and his wife have ties to that overthrown government, but they were also at the time young rebellious liberal college students. So when this new government started going after denters, Joseé Pascal's father actually helped hide a few of the fugitives. But once the government found out who was hiding one of these fugitives in particular through the form of torture, Jose and his wife also became targets and they had to flee the country. Their plan was to claim asylum in the Venezuelan embassy in Chile. Only problem was is that you can't just walk in and this thing was guarded 24 hours a day. However, Jose being the smart man that he is, he noticed there was a small window between when guards would change shifts. The family then used that moment to scale the embassy walls, jump in and claim asylum because I guess there's a technicality around if you're already in there, you can do it. And for context, Pedro Pascal was about 4 months old at this point. Now, his parents ended up staying in the Venezuelan embassy for about 6 months before making it to Denmark and then finally arriving in the United States of America, which is where this story's madness really begins. Talking about fleeing to the United States, though, let me say something. So, recently I posted on Tik Tok that I was considering the move to sunny Austin, Texas. Fine. Go on, Alex. Cue the whip. Texas, baby. But you're doing the job I do. I needed to know just how free is the land of the free. But then I found out about section 702. Oh, you you guys don't even want to know about section 702. It is Oh, okay. Fine. I'll tell you. It is one of the few laws that both Republicans and Democrats agree on, and that is surveillance. Listen to this. Section 702 allows the US government to monitor foreign nationals without a warrant. Oh, and a fun little backdoor also permits the surveillance that can be extended to people outside of the US as well. Oh, and it gets crazier because the NSA can actually name a foreign target outside the US. And if that target speaks to someone inside the US, their communications, too, are collected. So, I thought, I'm screwed. I don't think I can move to Texas anymore. But then, like an angel coming down from the heavens, blinding me with hope, I was informed about Proton Mail. Proton is the only encrypted mail service that keeps all of its servers in Switzerland, meaning it has unique laws that prevent any foreign governments from requesting access. It's not only adree, thank the Lord, uh, but it's free. Free. Feel like I'm back in primary school again. No, Gretle, don't you get it? I like like you. Proton Mail also uses zero access encryption which makes it impossible for anyone including Proton Mail themselves to see your information and switching over from whatever current you use. It is incredibly easy. With just a few clicks, you can transfer and forward all of your emails, your contacts in your calendar. So, if you want to start using Proton Mail for free today, make sure you use the link that are pinned in the comments because that'll tell Proton that you came from the Empire. Plus, it's got a pretty cool landing page about section 702 and the FBI. It's really fun. Look at it. But back to the news now. Because Pedro Pascal's dad was a very talented fertility doctor, it didn't take him long to start making a name for himself in America and start rising up them ranks. And thanks to his cuttingedge work in the fertility sector, he started getting a lot of job offers. one of which he accepted, took him out of Texas and to the University of California. Over the next 10 years, he set up a clinic and by the 1990s, Joseé Balma not only helped pioneer advances in vitro infertilization, but at this point, his clinic was one of the most successful in the entire country and was a national leader in IVF and experimental fertility treatments. So things were going pretty good for him at the time. But in 1995, everything came crashing down because that same year, Jose became the center of one of the biggest fertility scandals in US history. Alongside two of his colleagues, Jose was accused of doing something that shook the entire medical community, stealing eggs and embryos from women without their consent and secretly implanting them into other patients. And this wasn't just a rumor. Investigators uncovered dozens of cases. One woman had 14 eggs harvested during what she was told was actually a failed procedure, only to find out 2 years later that her biological child had been born to another couple. Another woman gave birth to twins that were genetically not hers. But the most well doumented out of all of these cases was the one of Deborah and John Chandler. After decades of failed fertility treatments, they turned to Jose's clinic in 1991. Deborah had a massive 46 eggs retrieved. Some were fertilized with her husband's sperm and the others were supposed to be stored for potential future use. But without their knowledge, at least 10 of those fertilized embryos, well, those were actually transferred and implanted into another random woman. The couple only found out years later after their biological child had been born to another woman, was living in a completely different state, and DNA tests confirmed that this was in fact their child. Scariest part though, 11 of the couple's embryos are still missing to this day. So, Lord knows how many biological children they may actually have mumbling about America. It gets crazier. At least 15 unauthorized pregnancies were confirmed. Those are just the ones that we know of. And the university had to pay out around $24 million to, you ready for this? 137 affected families. How have I just found out about this this week and this is the father of one of the most famous actors in the entire world. Yet you hear nothing. Wild. But this is not even the end. Investigators later discovered that nearly $1 million in clinic income is never accounted for with Jose and the other doctors allegedly taking tens of thousands of dollars in cash payments and just taking money under the table. Eventually, Jose himself was indicted on charges of mail fraud, tax evasion, conspiracy, and embezzlement of public funds. The university themselves, they launched their own lawsuit accusing him of unauthorized medical experiments, obstructing investigations, and even prescribing unapproved fertility drugs. So, what did Pedro Pascal's father do? Like most of the smart criminals, he ran. Jose packed up and fled the United States back to Chile. And he did this with his wife and two of their children. Pedro Pascal at this point was about 20 years old and he just started to have those early sparks of what would become a massive acting career. So he stayed in New York. Good for him I guess. But this is where things take a really really tragic turn because in 1999 just a couple of years since they've been back in Chile, Pedro Pascal's mother committed suicide. Now, we don't know the details around why, and Pedro Pascal has never specified either. But what we do know is that seeking to distance himself from all of this chaos, Pedro dropped his dad's last name, Balmma, and instead chose to go by Pascal to honor his mother. So, at this point, what happened to his father? Well, his lawyers were telling reporters that he will eventually return to the United States when he is ready. Investigators, they were like, "Bro's never coming back." But shock twist, in 2001, Jose was then arrested in Argentina. So, bit of a pattern here. US prosecutors hearing about this, they pushed for extradition back to the United States so he could face charges. And the legal battles dragged on for years. It wasn't until 2022, nearly three decades after all of this exploded, that Joseé Balma finally returned to the United States and accepted a plea deal. But by then the whole case had changed. Medical fraud was now off of the table thanks to the statutes of limitation. But more importantly is because technically what he did wasn't a crime, at least at the time. Because IVF was so new, there was no clear federal statutes criminalizing the unauthorized use of eggs or embryos. So, because prosecutors couldn't retroactively charge him with laws that don't didn't even exist at the time, they went after what they could prove, the money. In 2022, Jose only plead guilty to falsifying tax returns and under reporting hundreds of thousands of dollars in income. He posted a $750,000 bond and avoided prison time. Today, he remains free, serving out his sentence under supervised release in the United States of America with his very rich, very famous, and very loved son, Pedro Pascal. How crazy is that? So, now you know the dark past of Pedro Pascal's father. Hope you all have a fantastic weekend. I will see you on Monday for another brilliant week of a news roundup. See you then.