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VANCOUVER — A sperm donor billed as a genius turned out to be a convicted felon with serious mental health problems, according to lawsuits filed in B.C. Supreme Court.

The man who donated sperm to two Vancouver families so that they could have children through artificial insemination was falsely characterized and improperly screened.

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The plaintiffs, who are identified only by initials, are suing Xytex Corp., an Atlanta-based sperm bank and Genesis Fertility Centre Inc. in Vancouver.

The B.C. lawsuits come two months after three families in Ontario sued Xytex alleging they had been similarly misled about the status of the same donor, who is believed to have fathered 36 children.

One of the Vancouver couples, identified as A.A. and B.B., decided they wanted to have children after they were married in 2006, but needed a sperm donor.

In 2007, the couple say they asked Genesis, which had given them the option of receiving sperm from three companies, one of them Xytex, to obtain three vials from one man, identified only as Donor #9623.