Man says Koster’s suit has no merit, ruined his business

A Georgia man said the Missouri attorney general’s lawsuit against him is baseless and has ruined his name and his business.

Chris Koster filed a lawsuit on July 21 against Steve Blood, alleging Blood fraudulently collected charity donations for victims of the Joplin tornado. Koster said money that Blood raised never reached any charity efforts for the victims of the May 22 tornado.

But Blood, of Thomasville, Ga., said he never claimed his fundraising was going to Joplin victims. Since news of the lawsuit has spread, Blood said he has received hate email and harassing phone calls.

“My name is ruined, my business is ruined and I have not even a public apology from the man who was so quick to go to the press to ruin me,” he said in an email.

Koster’s office made him remove content from his Facebook pages and business website, he said. Blood added he still hadn’t been served with a lawsuit by Friday.

“He defamed and destroyed my business without serving me,” he said. “I’m being bullied by the attorney general of Missouri.”

In the lawsuit, Koster said Blood, who runs a radio business, claimed to help victims of the Joplin tornado by selling T-shirts, attempting to set up benefit concerts and offering concert sponsorships. His websites also offered consumers the option to donate to tornado relief efforts.

Koster said Blood collected nearly $5,000 and used it for personal expenses.

In a phone interview, Blood said he was originally aiming to hold a benefit concert for tornado victims in Alabama and he made inquiries to hold a benefit concert in Branson, but those concerts never got off the ground.

Blood said he only sold 17 “storm-aid” T-shirts and had planned to use proceeds of the sales to help fund operations for a concert. He didn’t advertise that money from the T-shirts would help Joplin tornado victims, he said.

“I’ve been slandered with these defamatory statements,” he said. “There’s no shred of evidence that shows any wrongdoing.”

Nanci Gonder, a spokeswoman for the Missouri attorneys general, declined to comment on Blood’s reaction to the lawsuit.

In a separate suit, Koster also claimed that the Alivio Foundation in Puerto Rico was fraudulently soliciting donations for Joplin tornado victims. Reached by Missouri Lawyers Media, volunteers for that organization said they were not running a scam and were intending to distribute money to Joplin charities.