New lawsuit accuses business of creating fake social media to bully Beach family
In a lawsuit filed Friday in Hampton County, the family of Mallory Beach accuses the Parker’s convenience store CEO and his lawyers of creating a social media campaign intended to bully the family during its wrongful death litigation against the convenience store.
As part of that campaign, Parker’s CEO Greg Parker and his lawyers, Blake Greco and Jason D’Cruz, hired social media “knife fighters” and others who created fake social media posts to “harass and emotionally harm” the Beach family and distributed confidential mediation material to a New York-based reporter, the lawsuit alleges.
Friday’s suit was filed by attorney Mark Tinsley on behalf of Mallory Beach’s mother, father, sister, brother-in-law and Beach’s father’s wife.
Beach, 19, was killed after a boat allegedly driven by Paul Murdaugh crashed into a bridge near Parris Island in 2019. Her family is suing Parker’s — where the underage Paul Murdaugh purchased alcohol before the crash — and members of the Murdaugh family in a wrongful death suit.
The new lawsuit builds upon accusations by Tinsley that someone affiliated with Parker’s convenience store sold a mediation video and notes to New York-based journalist Vicky Ward. Tinsley cites the recent release of a trailer, which has since been deleted, for a documentary called “The Murdaugh Murders.”
That trailer, viewed by reporters, included previously unseen photos of Mallory Beach’s dead body. Those photos, the new lawsuit alleges, were taken from a private mediation video owned by the Beach family.
Ward, in an October statement, denied having purchased anything from Parker’s.
Named as defendants in Tinsley’s new lawsuit are: Parker’s Corporation; Parker’s CEO Greg Parker; Parker’s general counsel Blake Greco; Greg Parker’s personal attorney Jason D’Cruz; journalist Vicky Ward; private investigators Max Fratoddi and Henry Rosado; and, Private Investigations Services Group LLC.
The lawsuit accuses all of the defendants, except for journalist Ward, of conspiring to harm the Beach family, violating SC ADR rules regarding confidentiality and abusing the legal process. Tinsley’s lawsuit alleges that Ward aided and abetted this conspiracy to make money from the documentary about the Murdaugh family by using a private video obtained from Parker’s.
Tinsley also accuses the defendants of outrage and intentional infliction of emotional distress. His lawsuit asks a judge for actual and punitive damages.
His lawsuit claims that Parker and his lawyers worked with Private Investigations Services Group and investigators Fratoddi and Rosado to diminish the resolve of the Beach family during civil litigation.
Parker’s, in a statement released just after the lawsuit was filed, denied providing crime scene photos, video footage and other confidential mediation information to Vicky Ward.
“Parker’s is disappointed that anyone would leak or discuss information contained in these items with the media,” the statement said. “In fact, when Parker’s filed a motion in November of 2020 regarding mediation material, Parker’s was careful not to disclose anything that could be considered confidential.
“We continue to send our condolences to the Beach family for their loss and will be filing a timely response to the Plaintiff’s false, baseless allegations.”
