Connecticut Attorney General Investigating Leukemia-Related Charities

July 31, 2010 — -- Dr. Tedd Collins has been the public face of an international campaign to help a Yale University hockey player suffering from leukemia to obtain a potentially life-saving transplant.

"It gets me out of bed. ... Honestly, this is very, very important to me," Collins said of his efforts to help Mandi Schwartz, in a recent interview on ABC News.

"It's as important as anything I've ever done. It really is," he said.

But now those efforts are under investigation by Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal. It's part of a growing pile of legal woes confronting the 53-year-old immunologist.

Late Friday, Blumenthal sent Collins letters asking for the fundraising records of two charities the doctor established to help Schwartz and others like her.

Blumenthal also directed the charities -- Become My Hero and Natasha's Place -- to cease all fundraising until they register with the state, saying it was "illegal to solicit charitable funds in Connecticut until the organizations have made the appropriate filings required under the law."

"We will investigate to confirm that funds donated to these organizations, promising to serve a significant charitable purpose, have been used appropriately," Blumenthal said in a statement.

The attorney general acted after The New York Times disclosed a trail of lawsuits and fraud accusations against Collins from people across the U.S. who claimed the doctor had duped them out of large amounts of money in investment ventures well before he created the Become My Hero and Natasha's Place charities.

In an e-mail to ABC News, Collins wrote that he had a "legal team looking over" how Become My Hero and Natasha's Place were set up. He added that his lawyers would "be able to provide a full accounting of the money and tell how things will be handled moving forward."

"I can accept that my past may hurt the image of our accomplishments. I just want to have an opportunity to make sure that the things I've created to save lives will not be injured because people doubt my ability to handle money. What is created is far bigger than me," he added.

He did not respond to additional requests for comment.