The potentially tragic story of Yale hockey player/Leukemia victim Mandi Schwartz has taken a bizarre turn this past week, thanks to some exhaustive reporting by a gang of five reporters at the New York Times and a Florida Fire and Rescue paramedic who raised his hand. Martin Reinholz, the EMT from Jacksonville reads newspapers on line, and saw the man who swindled him out of $200,000 featured as the heroic advocate for Mandi Schwartz's life and death search for a matching blood donor. That would be Tedd Collins IV, the man featured on ABC World News Tonight, ESPN and the New York Times. As has been happening ever more frequently with Collins this past decade, the s*** hit the fan.
Prior to the Times superb investigative reporting, American mainstream media had previously been satisfied with bios like "Doctor," "Clinical Immunologist" and "Grieving Father," for the enigmatic Collins. In the easy-to-digest story of Mandi's survival struggle, Collins was a father adhering to his dying daughter's final request to help another Yale victim of Leukemia, Mandi Schwartz. Natasha Collins was a Yale med student when she succumbed to the disease last summer. And all those characterizations of Collins are true, by and large. Except that Collins hadn't really been a doctor for over a decade. But he has been an angel of sorts to the Schwartz family, creating web sites and generating much needed publicity for their daughter's cause. “From our end, he’s worked tirelessly in finding cord blood for Mandi, and that was his main cause," said Mandi's dad Rick Schwartz from Wilcox, Saskatchewan.
There is an extraordinary disconnect between the man devoted to saving a tragic figure's life, and the Tedd Collins who is being investigated by the FBI, the IRS and the Secret Service for fraud and various felonious schemes. CT attorney general Richard Blumenthal is circling for a kill as well. The Times unearthed an almost comical tale of outrageous lies and scandals that Collins has been perpetrating in the decade since he left the labs of Bristol- Meyers Squibb. Here's a laundry list of lies, deception and scandal that will result in the ultimate demise of Collins, and nearly everyone he has come in contact with: started an Internet Service Provider which went out of business in a year; tried to deposit $22M in counterfeit checks in a bank account he controlled; claimed to manage a 152 BILLION (with a 'B') dollar gold mine so he could vouch for the $100 Million of scam money he was handling for a bogus hedge fund; conducted investing seminars at African American churches in South Carolina where he preyed on unsuspecting investors; falsified real estate documents of an octogenarian couple to illegally transfer titles and score mortgage loans. The guy was bad, and nationwide. And in the ultimate irony, the transgression that burst his facade as a do-gooder in the name of both his own and Rick Schwartz's daughter: whistle-blower Martin Reinholz said that Collins went AWOL after he had invested $200,000. in a trust for Reinholz' daughter. I guess the guy's love for daughters has its limitations.
The deeper you dig, the wackier Collins bio gets. He married NY QB legend Phil Simms sister, Mary Anne. They declared bankruptcy together in 2005. Mary Anne was named in the investigation for ripping off a female pastor in South Carolina for $100,000. Charities in New Haven have funneled $11,000. to Collins through an unsuspecting pastor at Church on the Rock in New Haven. “Everything that has come in has gone right back to him,” said Pastor Todd Foster of the money. “We entrusted him to do what he has purported to do.” No one, other than Collins, has seen that money.
So who is Tedd Collins? Angelic savior? Professional swindler and national con artist? Grieving father? How about all of the above. And a bit of an addict. Probably to money and attention, all those timeless human foibles. But very human, and that's what makes this story so compelling. A victim of recent history's two great bubble bursts, the Internet and housing. But he doesn't stop. His latest Internet posting had him offering up to 10 Mac IPads to the Facebook friends of Mandi who generate the most contacts with hospitals in search of cord blood. Good intentions, a design that brings good feelings followed by disappointment. He can't help himself.
Faced with awful financial setbacks, he continued to reinvent himself and latch on to new investors, keeping that dream alive. Whatever that dream is, some media-inflated bastardization of the American Dream which includes fame and fortune. Hey, he had Dianne Sawyer lead to his story on ABC. He was sold to American viewers as a caring doctor. Is he a clinical immunologist, or a manager of a Billion Dollar gold mine? An investment manager or a real estate tycoon? He is whatever we choose to believe. Soon he will be behind bars. And yet his heart remains open, despite a dearth of common sense. He wants to pay back the debtors back as soon as he is solvent again. Of course he does, and so do the vast amount of Americans who are saddled with unmangaeable debt. We may now hate Dr. Tedd, but we also know him. He is us.
He has honored his daughter and raised awareness of this deadly disease. Hospitals. mothers and laypeople nationwide now know the vital significance of blood from umibilical cords. And good Lord willing, if Mandi finds her match and is saved by a successful transplant next month in Seattle, the Schwartz family will be thanking Dr. Collins for the rest of their lives. But it appears that Collins' manic run as a free man in these United States will soon be coming to a close.
Kudos to the NYTimes team of investigative journalists who uncovered this story after the Martin Reinholz call to arms: Tom Kaplan, Stephanie Saul, Barry Meier, Rebecca Cathcart and Alan Delaqueriere.
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