Dear WCA Community,

Below you can find a summary of some of the notable cases the WDC has worked on, as well as some general WDC updates from the past three months.

The WDC opened 20 new cases and closed 17, this resulted in 7 bans, 7 warnings, and 3 closed with no action. Below, you can find summaries of some notable cases.

• The WDC investigated a high profile case regarding former delegate Kalindu Sachintha Wijesundara abusing his privileges as delegate to achieve an illegitimate world record 3x3x3 Fewest Moves. You can find the WDC’s announcement here.
• A competitor was found repeatedly altering the scorecards to achieve better results across multiple events and competitions. Many of the competitor’s scorecards contained suspicious markings on them, such as numbers written over the initial results or times that were scratched out and rewritten. The competitor was confronted by the delegate at a competition and denied accusations initially, but later confessed to doing it for the first time at said competition. The WDC reached out and, when asked when this behavior first occurred, the competitor again claimed it only occurred once. The WDC shared all of the evidence from five separate competitions, and the competitor confessed. The WDC issued a ban and all times with suspicious markings, or where scorecards were no longer available to verify the legitimacy of results, were disqualified.
• The WDC was contacted by the delegates of a competition after a competitor achieved an unexpectedly fast result. The competitor provided footage of the solve which showed that the competitor was given an incorrect and extremely easy scramble that was not reasonably similar to the generated scramble. The competitor was extremely cooperative with the delegates and the WDC. The WDC contacted the scrambler, who, despite being given multiple opportunities, did not respond, and they were given a short ban for the infraction. The WDC did not have reason to believe that the competitor was involved.
• An organizer withheld funds from a competition and was uncooperative with the delegates or the WDC. The organizer was given a conditional, permanent ban. The organizer will need to cooperate with the delegates to determine the amount of funds owed and return all funds before reconsideration.
• The WDC investigated four cases of blindfolded peeking. These resulted in three warnings and one short ban, due to the varying circumstances of each case. The WDC continues to emphasize the importance of correctly holding the sight blocker during blindfolded events.

During the last round of applications from October 2023, the WDC had shortlisted three potential candidates in case we felt more members were required. We would like to use this opportunity to welcome our three newest members: Ignacio Naval (Argentina), Glenn Koster (Kentucky, USA), and Mihnea Andrei Panţu (Romania) to the team!

The WDC also promoted five members to Senior Member: Carter Kucala, Josete Sánchez, Maria Beausang, Matteo Dummar, and Nicholas McKee. All five members were onboarded in December of 2022, and their promotions are well deserved. Congratulations again to each of them!

Do you have questions for the WDC? Feel free to send us an email, or ask your question in the Disciplinary section of the WCA forum.