Frank Parlato
Moshe Tal, the actor who portrayed Nissim, the young man who marries his brother’s widow in the 1972 Israeli classic, I Love You, Rosa, is now battling for his financial life.
Tal, 74, who left the screen to become the inventor of the fuel additive TK7, faces an uphill legal battle from what appears to be an unscrupulous wolf in shepherd’s clothing and an unsympathetic if not biased court.
The star of the Oscar nominated Best Foreign Language Film settled in America after leaving Israel is mired in a series of lawsuits in Oklahoma City, fighting to protect his 40-year old invention that inexpensively increases fuel efficiency, reports say, by more than 15 percent.
The man who is seeking to take the spoils of Tal’s life work, Andrew Hedrick, has utilized what appears to be a skillful brew of deception, trickery, forged documents and verbal promises (while the documents say something else) while posing as a leading congregant of the First Moore Baptist Church, a highly influential church in Oklahoma City.
What’s worse is that the state judges in Oklahoma are buying into Hedrick’s story and have handed Tal a string of court losses that seem to defy justice.
Fuel Additive Feud Begins
The truth is buried in a labyrinth of at least six lawsuits. The dispute concerns the fuel additive product, its brand name, TK7, and the real estate where it is manufactured: Downtown Oklahoma City.
TK-7 has been known for decades to be one of, if not the, best product on the market to increase engine performance by boosting fuel quality and preserving the life of motors by providing upper cylinder lubrication and valve seat protection.
Christian Crusader Takes the Lead
In the fight over TK7, the man who appears to be winning is a Baptist Churchgoing man named Andrew Hedrick. He was an employee of one of TK7’s distributors and now claims he owns TK7 Products and, through a series of legal maneuvers, control of the manufacturing facility where TK7 is made.
Tal’s Struggles in Court
Moshe Tal, 74, invented TK7 in the 1970s for military use only and spent most of the last 40 years making and selling the product. He appears to be losing in court badly. The setting is Oklahoma City. The lawsuits are dense and complicated and, as far as I know, no media has reported on them.
Hedrick won a default judgment to take Tal’s manufacturing plant. Tal has owned the building for decades.
Hedrick also claimed he owns the rights to the brand name TK7, because when Tal inadvertently let the trademark expire, Hedrick, who worked for Tal at the time, noticed it and quietly registered it in his own name, violating his NDA with Tal as well as Tal’s copyright since 1982.
Protecting the Formula
The only thing Hedrick has not taken from Tal is the formula for the product. Tal closely guarded the formula and, even now, when he makes TK7, he personally makes it.
From what I gather from court filings, transcripts, public records, and interviews, Tal, who is ailing, slowed by strokes and a heart condition, has had several lawyers. He fired them in succession, citing various complaints about their performance, and ultimately represented himself.
Legal Community Bias?
Tal has made a poor showing before the judges in Oklahoma City – in their estimation.
On the other hand, Hedrick is clean-cut and respectful. He lets his lawyers do the talking, and those lawyers are familiar with the judges in what appears to be a tight-knit legal community.
The contrast is stark.
Tal is argumentative. He makes speeches about the Constitution. He makes lengthy arguments on points of law, and because of his poor health, he is not as succinct as Hedrick’s lawyers arrayed against him.
Hedrick, on the other hand, seated with his lawyers, presents the image of an upstanding community man, a forgiving Christian, who attends First Moore Baptist Church and has been extraordinarily patient in suffering abuse from a dishonest old man and deeply respectful to the judges.
Conversely, at least one judge, Aletia Haynes Timmons, recused herself over conflicts and allegations of misconduct Tal raised for granting an ex-parte default judgment without service. That did not make the other judges that Tal appeared before like him any better.
The fight is over the new judge’s enforcement of that default judgment Hedrick won against Tal’s manufacturing business.
While Tal was at home recovering from open heart surgery, the judge granted a monetary judgment without an evidentiary hearing.
As soon as Tal could sit up and type, he started filing papers to halt the sale of his manufacturing plant.
Tal claimed Hedrick’s lawyers never served him notice of the subsequent collection hearing. Because he did not appear, Tal was held in contempt, an order which could only be vacated by another judge who was on vacation.
In the meantime, the chief judge ultimately approved a receiver to conduct a Sheriff’s sale of Tal’s property to pay for the alleged damages, based on Tal being held in contempt.
The Sheriff sale went through and Tal continues to fight for his manufacturing plant, which he bought decades ago and has dramatically increased in value.
Multiple Lawsuits
As the battle between Hedrick and Tal has flown through at least six related legal cases, Hedrick appears as the white knight. Tal appears in the eyes of some in Oklahoma City as, if we could be candid, Old Fagin, trying to mislead and steal from this young man Hedrick of the highest intentions.
If looks are the best judge of the facts, Tal might be guilty of cheating young, innocent Hedrick. But certain facts speak against the better-lawyered man.
Allegations Against Hedrick
In one of the six lawsuits, Hedrick’s former business partner, the son of famous football coach Barry Switzer, alleges Hedrick cheated him out of almost $200,000. How? Hedrick got Doug Switzer to invest in a company, claiming he would make Switzer 50% partner.
Then, through a series of financial and legal maneuverings, which some might call ‘sleight of hand,’ Hedrick got Switzer’s money, invested it into his own company, and instead made Switzer partner in a company with no assets. Further, Hedrick lied to Switzer about having Tal’s permission to use Tal’s TK7 trade name to form the new company. Hedrick never paid Switzer back.
Then there is David Goodnight, CEO of Comnet International, who says Hedrick lied to and caused him to lose a lot of money by pretending he owned Tal’s TK7 manufacturing plant and exclusive rights to Tal’s intellectual property..
Hedrick made a federal loan application in which he claimed he manufactured TK7. This is improbable, since Tal has kept the formula for his product secret—even Hedrick admits that.
Hedrick got the federal loan.
Hedrick marketed another product with unknown ingredients, claiming it was TK7, using labels similar or identifal to Tal’s labels and logo.
Someone who knows Tal sent the following texts to him.
Taunting Texts
The texts were sent to Tal before a recent court hearing by an anonymous person, using two different numbers ((580) 203-2246 and (405) 500-5884)
Wed, May 15 at 10:02 pm
You dun messed up and it’s gonna be hysterical watching you lose everything dumbass
Tue, May 21 at 9:43 pm
Thanks for clearing the way to get millions from you. Good god man you’re stupid. We were half worried you might win before you put your head back up your ass and did your old tricks
Wed, May 29 at 10:12 pm
Thank you for letting us now get new default judgments against your cheating ass. lol. We were worried before, but you undid all the proper legal mumbo jumbo! Thanks for making our case easy. and will be enjoying your money soon, ha
Ha ha you have a bar complaint for practicing law without a license. You’re not a lawyer and you have a bar complaint your are so awesome. Loser
Thur, May 30 at 9:38am
ahahabaha
Fri, May 31 at 8:56
You no talkie talkie? lol
The man who sent the texts may have been Andrew Hedrick.
Fought Against Terrorists
In reporting his fight against Hedrick, it should be noted that this is Tal’s second fight against a hostile party trying to misuse his product.
Back in the 90’s, Dr. Ihsan Barbouti tried to steal Tal’s TK7 and use this facilities to aid an alleged Libyan chemical weapons plant.
The record shows that Tal prevailed. Not only did Tal keep TK7, but in the process he exposed Barbouti and his associates who had terrorist plans on American soil – before 9-11.
Tal alleged that Barbouti and others schemed to take over the company and use it “for the undisclosed and illegal purpose of acquiring companies that could provide a licensed source for chemicals which the defendants intended to illegally divert to a prohibited nation, Libya, for use in the chemical weapons plant being constructed by Colonel Gadhafi at Rabta.”
Tal worked with the CIA and other US Federal Agencies to stop this group, possibly saving tens of thousands of lives.
One would think that compared to stopping the notorious Dr. Barbouti, taking down an apparent grifter and rascal like Andrew Hedrick would be child’s play.
But back then, Tal was young and working with the feds. He is older now and, worse, he is in Oklahoma where the judges seem to have less patience for a man who had done so much in his life, but who has less clout and walks slow and speaks haltingly.
No he does not present so well as Hedrick, a man who can can cite Scripture for his purpose with a smiling cheek.
In our next post, we will look into this apparent villain with an apple rotten at the heart: Andrew Hedrick’s history and how he managed, without investing any money, to be in a position where he could “be enjoying” all the money of a distinguished man Moshe Tal, who worked his entire life to earn it.
Frank Parlato is an investigative journalist, media strategist, publisher, and legal consultant.
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I feel sorry for this man. He will never win in any court in Oklahoma. As Oklahoma is more of a judicial hell Hole now than it was in the 60s.
The text messages were not from Andrew Hedrick however you probably aren’t interested in the facts! Moshe is a crook. Defamation of Andrew Hedrick will backfire on you. I dare you to try to do real investigative journalism like you advertise to be fair. The truth always wins in the end. I admit you made up a good story. But it’s just a story. Too bad it isn’t true. Hope you can live with your conscience
I totally agree
I am late getting into this said conversation but after reading just some of the filed documents in this case if anyone with logical thinking, would think, that the said Hendrick along with the lawyers are not crooks, then that said anyone is not a logical thinking person. Moreover, among other things, Tal is in where he can’t win, as it is impossible to beat the opposing party and the court too. (AnonymousShame and Vickie Senn need to pull their heads out of their ass)
It just gets old to see people stealing everything from A man that has worked so very hard to build his company and legacy. Instead of working to build something someone comes in that doesn’t have the know how or the right to take something that doesn’t belong to them. Shame on Andy for being a thief and the people that are allowing this injustice to happen.
I have read some of the filed documents. What happened is nuts!
Tal did business with this Hedrick guy under a business named Awesome LLC. Hedrick signed an NDA acknowledging that he was allowed to use the trade name TK7 for marketing purposes but NOT allowed incorporate TK7 into his business name without written consent.
While Tal continued doing business with Awesome, Hedrick secretly incorporated TK7 Products LLC using Tal’s trade name. When Tal found out, he sent a Cease and Desist and threatened to not renew the contract with Awesome.
More things happened, but ultimately, Hedrick/TK7 sued Tal (the actual owner of TK7) for breach of contract with a company Tal never did business with and whose use of Tal’s TK7 trade name was a violation of the NDA and contract with Awesome in the first place.
The plaintiff claimed to have written consent to incorporate but never provided any evidence of the consent. Clearly, there was no written consent and clearly the company suing Tal never did business with Tal.
Tal explained all of this in the Motion to Dismiss but it was never heard. And it’s been years.
This case should have never moved forward. It’s unbelievable that Tal’s property has been foreclosed to pay for bogus damages in this bogus case. In fact, the damages awarded appear to have been based on a fraudulent contract that Hedrick signed with a business man who later wrote an affidavit explaining how Hedrick lost that business money due to the fraudulent contract.
Tal has a history of pissing off every judge and lawyer in town. The judges are clearly biased. No unbiased judge would allow this.
Good job Frank Report uncovering this and good luck to Tal in fighting this! May justice be served.
I go to church with Hedrick. He is always the first to put his hand forward to reach out to the selection basket. But come to think of it I am not sure if he was putting money in or taking some out.
if I know where this is going Hedrick is going to jail. Frank Report like the Canadian Mounties always gets his man.
I hope so. My uncle worked his life for this company and to see and hear what his ex-employee is doing is atrocious. My uncle will give his shit of his back for you. We need this to reach far and wide, thank you Frank Report. FINALLY there’s hope this will end with my uncle still owing his property, his legacy, and able to leave my cousins with peace know my uncle persevered and retained what is rightfully and legally his.
It would be great if justice prevailed. Will follow for updates.
Is Andrew Hedrick a Freemason?
The churches 10 percent from each member might be paying for his lawyers. Baptist are a peculiar bunch imo. Someone should check the chuch books…and his laptop.