Alex,
You should probably take preemptive action by contacting the USCF office. Without knowing all the details, I don’t think any of us can give any definitive answer to your situation. From the testimony you’ve offered thus far, I would say that you have no liability, but that’s just my opinion based on insufficient facts.
Alex,
Stop worrying. A lot of ducks have to be in a row for you to be singularly liable. There are a lot of people involved here. There is the person that sent in the TLA. USCF will look that way for some liability. There are other officers of the affiliate.
It is the USCF office that will initially deal with any tournament cancellations. If, after hearing all sides, the USCF office finds anyone liable at all (TD, affiliate, or both) that decision can be appealed to the proper committee(s) and ultimately to the Board. In the past even the Delegates have gotten involved in such decision reversals.
As for the money, the USCF in the past has suspended TDs for refusing to pay out prizes at events that were actually held and EFs were collected. In this case it appears that the event is not going to be held and EFs are not going to be collected. In my opinion, the chances that a TD loses their certification for not paying out prizes for an event that was not held under murky circumstances is slim to none.
Unlikely as it is, the worst-case USCF scenario, I would guess in this instance, is that after all the appeals fail a TD, probably still certified, and an affiliate, with an expired membership, will not be allowed to advertise in Chess Life.
Needless to say the entire process of investigation and/or appeals is a lengthy one.
Tim
As an update, the “official state chapter affiliate” has listed these tournaments as cancelled. I’m dubious as to the effect of this, as I don’t think even in states where there is only one state affiliate people check to make sure that tournaments aren’t cancelled, and in Oklahoma I don’t know that such a cancellation would be believed.
Also, I don’t think that people coming from out of state would check there. I’m worried, also, that people who associate my name with that affiliate would be upset when they come to that tournament. Sigh. What a mess!
Alex Relyea
Alex, I am fully aware of the political firestorm in Oklahoma, and obviously you are too. You’ve apparently taken sides. That’s your prerogative, but let’s keep this forum about tournament issues and not politics. (Note that there is only ONE official state chapter in a state unless it splits into two states like Northern and Southern California did. Oklahoma does not have enough USCF members to qualify to split into two states for USCF governance purposes.)
The simple fact of the matter is that cancelling an event just because there is not a TD is NOT among the legitimate grounds for cancelling an advertised event without penalty.
Finding a TD is one of the duties expected to be performed by the sponsoring affiliate.
The sponsoring affiliate could bring in a TD from outside, I’m sure the USCF could provide a list of TDs in surrounding states. Providing the event isn’t reasonably expected to draw over 50 players, the club could have one of its members become a Club TD. (In an unanticipated situation, which this probably is, a club TD can direct larger events anyway.)
Mike,
You’re right. I spoke impercisely, and I’m sorry.
Not being involved with the club workings any longer, I only know what leadership decides to tell me about this tournament, which is not much for the past couple of weeks. Their arguement seems to be something along the lines of the USCF wouldn’t let them cancel the tournament because their affiliate had expired, and to heck with the USCF if they try to impose sanctions because of it. Evidently they think that the USCF can print a cancelation in Chess Life after it has already been mailed, since the affiliate membership was good through December. At this point, I have no idea what is going to happen, and I’m still a little worried.
Alex Relyea
The Sooner Chess Club Faculty Sponsor, Dr. Eric Abraham, has informed me that “the show must go on” and a TD has been recruited for the tournament.
All the best 
Mike Swatek