Prosecutors, defense attorneys agree to third delay of Tate trial

Prosecutors and defense attorneys have again agreed to postpone the potential start of criminal trials faced by the owners of a now-defunct vanity press, the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office said on Friday.

A spokeswoman said the Attorney General’s office and attorneys representing Richard Tate, the founder of Mustang-based Tate Publishing & Enterprises, and his CEO and son, Ryan Tate, agreed to reset preliminary hearings for the case to 9 a.m., May 16.

The spokeswoman said the agency continues to work with book authors and musicians who claim they were cheated out of products and services they said they had paid for to get their works promoted by the publisher.

The postponement is the third that the Tates’ attorneys have negotiated with prosecutors since the men were arrested in May 2017 after being charged with various criminal offenses.

Charges faced by Richard Tate and Ryan Tate stem from investigations the Oklahoma Attorney General’s office launched on behalf of eight consumers who had filed complaints against the men and their company.

Each man faces four felony embezzlement charges, a misdemeanor embezzlement charge, and three felony attempted extortion by threat charges. Each also faces a felony racketeering charge.

Over time, the number of complaints against the company and the men has increased.

Before the end of the year, the Attorney General’s office said 1,875 had filed complaints with its consumer protection unit. On Friday, the spokeswoman said the agency continues to be contacted by additional consumers who claim they were treated unfairly by the publisher.

The criminal charges were filed after the Tates made an aborted attempt to restart their business after closing the operation at the start of 2017.

The criminal case also came after vendors that had provided Tate Publishing and Enterprises with printers and with printing services filed and won two significant suits against the company and its top executives.

Over the years, numerous former clients also have filed civil suits against the company and its top executives, and so has their bank.

Court filings show BancFirst has filed a suit against Tate Publishing & Enterprises, as well as Richard, Ryan and Christy Tate, that seeks to foreclose various mortgages the bank claims they defaulted on involving the firm’s former corporate location and various residences. As part of the suit, the bank seeks to be granted a “valid, prior and superior lien upon the real property and improvements thereon.”