Last week, we checked up on the victim restitution progress of Tate Publishing’s owners, Richard Tate and Ryan Tate. As you may recall, they were ordered to pay restitution to their victims (in pitifully small amounts!) by the District Court in Canadian County, Oklahoma.
Taking a look at the “Events” for Ryan Tate’s and Richard Tate‘s cases that have occurred during and after their convictions is interesting. Most recently, we saw that the district court has ordered that both Richard and Ryan Tate’s tax refunds be “intercepted.”
According to the Oklahoma government’s website:
“If the refund has been warrant intercepted, one of the many state agencies throughout the State or one of the 77 Oklahoma district court clerks offices have requested your state refund check to pay on a debt owed.”
We contacted the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office last to see if the Tates have been paying their restitution. Their Communications Director, Alex Gerszewski, responded to us last week, saying, “They are current on their payments.”
Here’s something odd, however. Just last week, the judgements against both Ryan Tate and Richard Tate were online as pdf files. Today, they are gone. 
But, don’t worry! You can still see them on the wayback machine HERE and HERE.
And, we have downloads of those pdf files on file here at WritersWeekly as well.
What’s interesting about those judgements is what appears on the very last page of both. The Tates were accused of using their authors’ money at casinos. In the judgements above, both criminals were ordered, in the final judgements, to agree to the following:
“I will not possess or consume illegal narcotics nor visit places where they are dispensed, used, or sold. I will not abuse alcohol or any drug or substances. I will not go to casinos or gambling establishments or participate in organized gambling activities.”
The Oklahoma Attorney General’s Restitution Letter about Tate Publishing is missing as well:
Here is a copy of the restitution letter that we found online, which was posted by a victim:
Office of Attorney General
State of Oklahoma
January 24, 2020
[victim’s name and address removed]
RE: Restitution in State v. Ryan Tate, Canadian County District Court Case No. CF-2017-387
and State v. Richard Tate, Canadian County District Court Case No. CF-2017-388
Dear [name removed]:
This letter is in regard to the status of your restitution claim against the Defendants, Ryan and Richard Tate. All verifiable restitution claims have been presented to the Court and included in the final restitution amount ordered to be paid as a condition of the Defendants’ probation.
Enclosed, you will find a Restitution Recovery Form, which requests specific information necessary to finalize and process your payments. In order for your claim to be paid, state law requires that you provide your name, updated and complete contact information, and Social Security number. The form should be returned to our office at 313 NE 21st Street, Oklahoma City, OK 73105 no later than February 14, 2020, to avoid delays in your payments. Please note that failure to return the form with the requested information will preclude our office from processing your restitution claim, and you will not be able to receive any payments until our office receives the necessary information.
The Court has ordered the Defendants to pay over $900,000 in restitution in monthly installments over the next 20 years. Your restitution claim has been reviewed and $[amount removed] was approved by the Court. Beginning no later than March 11, 2020, you will receive annual payments toward your total approved claim until your restitution claim is paid in full.
Due to the large number of affected consumers in this case, and in order to provide individualized support and assistance, our office has created a dedicated resource for future correspondence. Please direct all questions or concerns to our office by email at Tate-CPU@oag.ok.gov.
We thank you for your attention and patience in this matter.
Office of the Oklahoma Attorney General
Consumer Protection Unit
UPDATE: After I contacted the OK Attorney General about the missing documents on their website, the Communications Director responded with, “The agency that hosts our website is trying to migrate ours to a new vendor (forgive me if my IT terminology is inaccurate) and things like this keep happening. It’s frustrating for me, too. Nonetheless, I apologize for any inconvenience.”
Later this afternoon, he sent me THIS LINK, which has new links to the plea agreement and the sentencing documents.
You can read numerous comments from Tate Publishing’s victims under THIS ARTICLE.
And, read much more about Tate Publishing’s criminal activities and other troubles RIGHT HERE.
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- Tate Publishing Execs Arrested (Finally!) for Embezzlement, Extortion & Racketeering. See Other Lawsuits Filed Against These Jerks! HINT: One was for (alleged) property destruction!
- URGENT NOTE FOR AUTHORS OF FAILED TATE PUBLISHING – Your “Production Files” Might Have Problems!
- BookLocker Has a Fantastic Offer for Victims of Defunct Tate Publishing (and other firms)! Move to BookLocker for as little as $78! (And, get your book back on the market in as little as 2 weeks.)
- “Tate Publishing agreed to reimburse their victims but I never submitted a claim! What can I do?”
- “I sued Tate Publishing, and won, but Amazon is still selling their edition of my book!”
- “How can I get my books from Tate Publishing? I paid for 1,000 copies!”
Got questions about Print On Demand and Self-publishing? Ask Angela Hoy.
About The Author
Angela Hoy is the publisher of WritersWeekly.com, the author of 19 books, and the co-owner of BookLocker.com (one of the original POD publishers that still gets books to market in less than a month), PubPreppers.com (print and ebook design for authors who truly want to self-publish), and Abuzz Press (the publishing co-op that charges no setup fees).
Angela has lived and traveled across the U.S. with her kids in an RV, settled in a river-side home in Bradenton, FL, and lived on a 52 ft Irwin sailboat. Angela now resides on a mountaintop in Northwest Georgia, where she plans to spend the rest of her days bird watching, gardening, hiking, and taking in all of the amazing sunrises.
WritersWeekly.com - the free marketing ezine for writers, which features new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday.
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Abuzz Press offers FAST and FREE book publication, but only accepts a small percentage of submissions, and only works with U.S. authors.
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Angela's POD Secrets Revealed Series can be found HERE.
Have a POD Book with another publisher? See if BookLocker can give you a better deal. (BookLocker offers "disgruntled author discounts" to those who want to move from other POD services.)
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