Dear WCA Community,

Here you can find some noteworthy updates about the activity of the Disciplinary Committee over the month of July 2019.

The Committee is actively working on 9 cases. The WDC was also able to close a few cases between the end of July and the beginning of August. One of these cases is the one that greatly affected the Ukrainian and international community at the beginning of June, during Ukrainian Open 2019. The report of this investigation will be published with the next WDC Monthly Digest. In the meantime, since the result of the investigation can be seen on the WCA website, a quick overview of the case is necessary.

The final decision of the WDC was to disqualify all of the official results obtained by 2017LENY01 in WCA competitions because of the impossibility to determine the legitimacy of these results. The WDC also administered a conditional ban to the competitor, which means that 2017LENY01 will not be allowed to participate in any WCA official event until he starts cooperating with the WDC to clarify the circumstances of his cheating. 2017LENY01 was given two months to offer his version of the events and to reply to the question of the WDC, but he has failed to do so.
Video evidence was key in opening the investigation, which greatly relied on the testimony of different members of the Ukrainian community and local WCA officials. These factors helped the WDC reach the conclusion about the circumstances that can be seen in the video evidence, specifically 2017LENY01 stopping the timer early with a movement of his forearms during the solve, were not isolated instances but a practiced habit for the competitor.

The WDC would like to thank all the people involved in the investigation for their help and efforts in supporting the WCA Spirit and Mission.

Another case that deserves public discussion involves former WCA Board member Olivér Perge. Olivér recently contacted the WDC to confess an episode of cheating that happened in 2007, before Olivér’s official involvement with the WCA. The WDC asked Olivér to directly address the Community and explain his actions. This is the letter he wrote:

Dear WCA Community,

I would like to admit that I cheated at multi blind during the Swedish Cube Day 2007 competition. I peeked under the blindfold and checked the cubes after I solved them one by one. This was a one time incident, I regretted it immediately and I still feel horrible about it to this day. I was just starting competitive speedcubing and was too scared to come clean back then, and later on I didn't want my official positions to be damaged by this mistake, but I felt important now to come forward, even though it was almost a decade ago. I am deeply sorry and wish I could undo it somehow, but I cannot. Honesty and integrity are key values within the WCA, and I just hope that my lesson can serve as an example at least.

Kind Regards,
Olivér Perge

The WDC would like to thank Olivér for his honesty in confessing. The affected attempt was of course disqualified, changing the history of Hungarian multi-blind National Records.

Even though a lot of time has passed, Olivér’s confession is important, since it finally makes things right. Mistakes can happen, but it’s important to recognize and learn from them.
Around the same time when the WDC was discussing Olivér’s case internally, a similar confession was published on Facebook by another competitor. 2017HEIS02 confessed that his official single in Pyraminx was achieved on a duplicate scramble, more than a year ago. The WDC contacted the competitor and thanked him for his honesty, as many others had already done publicly, communicating that no further action by the Committee was deemed necessary.

To conclude, we would like to remind everyone to make sure they fully understand the WCA Regulations and competition procedures. If you have any questions or are unsure about how to do something, please do not hesitate to ask the Delegate(s) of the competition. In addition, if you think the competition results are being compromised in any way or see suspicious behavior, find the nearest delegate immediately and report the incident.

Thank you all for your help in supporting the WCA Spirit and Mission.

Lorenzo Vigani Poli
WDC Team Leader
On behalf of the Disciplinary Committee