That's the title of my latest piece in The Hill, which you can access here.
Here's how it starts out:
Cheating to gain an advantage against your opponent is as old as competition itself.
In the last few weeks alone, we have seen cheating scandals in Chess, poker, and even fishing.
Magnus Carlsen, the world’s top chess player, has accused Hans Neimann, a 19-year old rising star in the chess world, of cheating. Neimann admitted to previously cheating in online tournaments, after which Carlsen said: “I believe that Neimann has cheated more — and more recently — than he has publicly admitted.” Neimann offered to play Carlsen naked in an attempt to refute the allegations. The website Chess.com conducted an Investigation of Neimann’s online play and has concluded that he cheated in more than 100 games, including in matches where prize money was at stake. He has been banned from playing on the website.
Just last week, poker had its own cheating scandal — Robbi Jade Lew was accused of cheating when she called Garrett Adelstein and bet $269,000 even though her hand was a lame jack high. Lew returned the money but has denied cheating. She has challenged him to a heads-up game. The casino where the match took place is taking the allegations seriously — it has hired a law firm to conduct an investigation, which may include a polygraph test and a third-party cybersecurity firm.
Poker and chess, fine. But fishing? Yes, even fishing. At the Lake Erie Walleye Trail tournament in Cleveland, Jacob Runyan is accused of inserting weights into fish so he could win a $30,000 prize. He was disqualified, and an investigation has been initiated over his past three tournaments, which he and his partner won.
We’ve also seen cheating in ice-skating, baseball, and even paralympic basketball where the winning team faked IQ tests so that they would qualify to compete. Jaw dropping, right?
But when those folks cheat, there is a real investigation and they are punished (and of course, their victims do not end up in jail).
Not so when prosecutors cheat: No one really investigates; they are almost never punished, and their victims can spend years in prison.
Please let me know your thoughts.
