As Yale player Mandi Schwartz prepares for a cord blood transplant in her battle with leukemia, two charities organized by a man involved in efforts to help her face investigation by the Connecticut attorney general, a newspaper reported.
The New York Times reported that charities started by Tedd Collins IV after his daughter’s death last year following a battle with leukemia have not been registered with the Connecticut attorney general’s office, as is required.
Questions also have surfaced about the more than $10,000 that Collins has raised this year for Schwartz and other leukemia patients. The Schwartz family told the newspaper that it had not received any money from Collins.
Collins is the subject of a federal fraud investigation in Kentucky, The New York Times reported.
Connecticut attorney general Richard Blumenthal told the newspaper that neither of Collins’ charities — Become My Hero, which attempts to match patients with umbilical cord blood donors, and Natasha’s Place, described as the national mixed heritage cord blood bank — are registered with the state.
References to Collins and his charities are absent from Yale’s webpage with information on how to help Schwartz.
A Yale spokesperson told the newspaper that the school would cooperate with any investigation, and that it would reassess its relationship with Collins if wrongdoing was established.
Meanwhile, Schwartz’s father, Rick, told yalebulldogs.com that a cord blood transplant is scheduled for Aug. 26. Mandi Schwartz, her parents and fiance, Kaylem Prefontaine, are in Seattle in preparation for that transplant.
