White Marlin Open says winner lied, broke rules
Polygraph tests on the big winner of the White Marlin Open have determined the angler and crew members lied about following tournament rules, according to court documents filed on behalf of the tournament.
Polygraphs administered on behalf of the tournament determined that Phillip Heasley and others crew members of the Kallianassa, which was announced as having the winning white marlin at the close of the tournament, were "deceitful."
Heasley, of Naples, Florida, had brought in a 76.5-pound white marlin, the sole qualifying white marlin vying for the grand prize of $2.8 million. However, examination of catch logs by the tournament brought suspicion that Heasley and the crew of the Kallianassa had not followed the rules of the tournament, so officials withheld the prize money.
"Subsequent investigation as required by the rules and regulations of the White Marlin Open indicated a possible violation of the rules. Accordingly in an effort to achieve utmost fairness, the White Marlin Open directors met with the independent judges and complete information was provided to the judges for their input with regard to the issue of the potential violation of rules," tournament officials said in a statement Aug. 23.
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According to the result of a polygraph administered by the tournament, Heasley was deemed to have lied when answering questions of whether he had knowingly violated any rules of the tournament, whether anyone on the Kallianassa had knowingly violated any rules of the tournament and whether he had lied when saying he had never violated any rules of the tournament. Heasley answered "no" to all of these questions, tournament officials say.
Additionally, Heasley was determined to have lied when answering specific questions about regulations of the tournament, including whether he had help catching the fish and whether he had passed the sea buoy before 4 a.m.
According to the polygraph, a crew member of the Kallianassa, Kyle Bohannon, was determined to have lied on all of the same questions as Heasley, save for the question on whether the boat had passed the sea buoy prior to 4 a.m. Two other members of the Kallinassa's crew were also determined to have been deceitful during the questioning. In total, four members of the Kallianassa on board during the catch of the champion white marlin all were found to have lied in some capacity about the protocol followed that day, according to the tournament.
While both Heasley and Bohannon had been determined not to have lied when saying he had caught the marlin past 8:30 a.m., in accordance with the rules of the tournament, tournament officials initially became suspicious of Heasley's catch upon reading the catch report from the Kallianassa on Tuesday, Aug. 9. In it, tournament officials stated that the time had seemingly been altered, changed from "8:15 a.m.," which would have disqualified the marlin for being prior to the 8:30 a.m. start time, to "9:05 a.m."
Before the results of the polygraph, Heasley had maintained his innocence, saying the Kallianassa's crew had followed all rules.
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“The Kallianassa’s excellent crew and superb captain have always maintained the highest levels of integrity; they will be vindicated and walking tall in the fishing community,” Heasley said.
On Aug. 22, Heasley was notified about the results of the polygraph by James Motsko, president of the White Marlin Open. Heasley denied the request to distribute his prize money among other winning fishermen.
The White Marlin Open has since requested the money be placed upon the court, which has been asked to make a ruling on disqualifying the winner, as well as decide on distribution of the funds.