Missouri Promoter To See Judge

After reaching a consent agreement with the attorney general’s office to repay 55 vendors more than $28,500 in deposits for three canceled events, former Joplin, Mo., promoter Derrick Gates is wanted back in court for missing payments.

Gates is set to appear before a judge for a contempt hearing Oct. 8 in Jasper County Circuit Court. He is charged with failing to make restitution payments to the Missouri Merchandising Practices Restitution Fund, failing to properly register a business and using an alias to conduct business, according to the Joplin Globe.

Gates, 30, and two co-defendants – Josh Allen, 26, and Zachary Grimm, 22, who are listed as employees of his companies OnFire Productions and HardNox Productions, were named in a lawsuit filed by the AG in December.

The promoter, who also went by the alias Derrick Badders, and his associates received more than $37,000 as down payments for booth space for three events between January and November of last year.

Godstock, a Christian music festival in Joplin, was supposed to take place last summer and two events were scheduled to take place in Kansas City, Mo. – the Battle for the Mic rap concert last August and the Ink Deep Tattoo Convention last December.

The consent agreement reached in June stipulated that Gates must make payments of $680.04 each month to the state’s MPRF starting June 30 and, if he misses a payment, the entire balance can be declared due immediately. He must also pay $2,708 to reimburse the Attorney General’s office, but as long as he complies with the agreement, a $25,000 civil penalty will be suspended, according to the Globe.

AG spokesman John Fougere told the paper Gates owed more than $2,040 in payments because the office hadn’t received a payment for June, July or August. Although the office received a $900 cashier’s check from Gates the week of Sept. 14-20, that payment wouldn’t keep the former promoter from his contempt hearing.

As part of the agreement, any future business Gates operates must be registered with the Secretary of State’s Office per Missouri laws and be registered under his legal name. He is accused of violating the agreement by operating a MySpace.com profile to promote “BlackSHEEP Clothing Co.” and “BlackSHEEP Graphic Design” under his alias.

The Globe noted Gates has taken on a new profession as the evangelical preacher of Edge Worship, an alternative Christian church he founded. A MySpace page for the church says Gates is renovating a building to use as a church with a “concert venue” for Friday and Saturday nights.

Gates, Allen and Grimm are under a permanent injunction that prohibits them from promoting an event without securing a performance bond of at least $200,000 and first notifying the attorney general’s office.

“We will be investigating this latest venture,” Fougere told the Globe. “We will take a look at some of these new allegations, determine what the facts are, and make a legal determination as to whether he’s in violation.”