In August 2015,

Boye Brogeland Boye Brogeland (born 1973) is a Norwegian professional bridge player. After a successful junior career, he won three Bermuda Bowl medals with the Norwegian team, including the gold in Shanghai 2007, and several North American Bridge Championships. ...

's bridge team (Richard Schwartz, Allan Graves, Boye Brogeland, Espen Lindqvist,

Huub Bertens Hubertus Johannes Antoinetta (Huub) Bertens (born 24 May 1960) is a Dutch professional bridge player previously from Tilburg, Netherlands, now living in Bend, Oregon (U.S.). Bertens has won numerous national and some international tournaments incl ...

, Daniel Korbel) lost in the quarter-finals of the

Spingold The Spingold national bridge championship is held at the summer American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) North American Bridge Championship (NABC). The Spingold is a knock-out team event that attracts the top contract bridge players in the world. T ...

knock-out team event to Jimmy Cayne's team (

James Cayne James E. "Jimmy" Cayne (February 14, 1934 – December 28, 2021) was an American businessman and CEO of Bear Stearns. In 2006, he became the first Wall Street chief to own a company stake worth more than $1 billion, but he lost most of that in t ...

Michael Seamon Michael Seamon (January 15, 1960 – 2017) was an American professional bridge player from Miami Beach, Florida. Born to bridge players Rita and William Seamon, Michael was the youngest of three children. His sister, Janice Seamon-Molson, is also ...

Lotan Fisher Lotan Fisher is an Israeli bridge player ranked as a World Life Master by the World Bridge Federation. He first appeared in international competition at the 18th European Youth Team Championships in Torquay in 2002 where his schools division team ...

, Ron Schwartz, Alfredo Versace,

Lorenzo Lauria Lorenzo Lauria (born July 17, 1947 ) is an Italian international bridge player. He is a six-time world champion and a World Grand Master of the World Bridge Federation (WBF). As of July 2014 he ranks fifth among Open World Grand Masters and his re ...

) by 1

IMP IMP or imp may refer to: * Imp, a fantasy creature Arts and entertainment Fictional characters * Imp (She-Ra), a character in ''She-Ra: Princess of Power'' * Imp a character in '' Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony'' * Imp, a character in the '' Cl ...

following an appeal that lost his team 2 IMPs. The appeal involved

and Ron Schwartz, Brogeland's teammates from the previous year when they won the

. Brogeland spent the following day reviewing the Vugraph records from the quarter-final and concluded that

Fisher Fisher is an archaic term for a fisherman, revived as gender-neutral. Fisher, Fishers or The Fisher may also refer to: Places Australia *Division of Fisher, an electoral district in the Australian House of Representatives, in Queensland *Elect ...

and Schwartz were cheating and later that month created a web site and publicly accused them of cheating. In September 2015, Per-Ola Cullin, a Swedish international bridge player, postulated that after removing the

board Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a ty ...

from the bidding tray,

and Schwartz placed it in particular locations as a code to indicate strength in a suit. The analysis was based on video from the European Bridge Team Championship in Croatia in 2014. Both the

European Bridge League The European Bridge League is a confederation of National Bridge Federations (NBFs) that organize the card game of contract bridge in European nations. In turn the EBL organizes bridge competition at the European level. It is a member of the Europ ...

and the Israel Bridge Federation conducted an investigation into the allegations. The Israel Bridge Federation hearings also includes an allegation related to coughing. On September 5, 2015, Israel withdrew its team for the upcoming Bermuda Bowl in Bali. They were replaced by Sweden. In May 2016 three Israeli experts announced what they believe is a refinement to the Cullin code. The experts include Dr. Netzer Zeidenberg, a computer scientist and Amir Levin, Israel's 2003 bridge champion. Fisher and Schwartz responded, "We are innocent of any crime and we will fight for our innocence. We already successfully passed a polygraph that proved that we are innocent." The decision of the European Bridge League Disciplinary Committee was released on May 18, 2016.

and Schwartz were banned from all

events for a period of five years, and banned from playing as a partnership for life. On July 28, 2016, the

American Contract Bridge League The American Contract Bridge League (ACBL) is a governing body for contract bridge in the United States, Canada, Mexico, and Bermuda. It is the largest such organization in North America having the stated mission ''"to promote, grow and sustain th ...

(ACBL) announced that its Ethical Oversight Committee (chair: Jon Brissman; other members: Cheri Bjerkan,

Dennis Clerkin Dennis E. Clerkin (born 1950) is a professional American bridge player. Clerkin is from Bloomington, Indiana. Bridge accomplishments Wins * North American Bridge Championships (6) ** North American Pairs (1) 1989 ** Grand National Teams (2) 199 ...

, Lesley Davis, Bruce Ferguson, Bob Glasson, Hendrik Sharples and

Eddie Wold Edward M. "Eddie" Wold (born 1951) is an American professional bridge player from Houston, Texas. Wold is a graduate of Rice University. Wold is an accomplished teacher and plays regularly at Houston's Westside Bridge Academy, particularly in that ...

) had unanimously found Fisher and Schwartz guilty both of collusive cheating and of giving false information to the ACBL about previous disciplinary convictions. In consequence, Fisher and Schwartz were expelled from the ACBL, and all their

masterpoints Masterpoints or master points are points awarded by bridge organizations to individuals for success in competitive bridge tournaments run under their auspices. Generally, recipients must be members in good standing of the issuing organization. At t ...

, titles, ranks and privileges declared forfeit. Further, their partners and teammates were subject to mandatory forfeiture of all masterpoints, titles and ranks earned during the four years preceding the final of the 2015 Spingold Trophy. On July 29, 2016, the ACBL clarified and corrected that announcement: forfeiture by partners and teammates applied only to events in which they had played with Fisher or Schwartz, and only to the four years preceding the date of the decision, namely July 27, 2016. On August 8, 2016, the Israeli Special Ethics Committee unanimously found Fisher and Schwartz guilty of signaling by means of board placement and on February 14, 2017, announced that Fisher and Schwartz are permanently banned from play and participation in any activities within the Israeli Bridge Federation.Penalty Decision of the Special Ethics Committee, February 14, 2017.
/ref>

References

External links

The Fisher Schwartz Cheating Scandal A Recap Of The First Two Weeks
A YouTube posting by Peter Hollands, September 8, 2015.
The Fisher/Schwartz Bridge Cheating Scandal
A YouTube posting by Michael Clark, September 30, 2015.
Cheating Scandal Update Convictions And Appeals
A YouTube posting by Peter Hollands, June 23 8, 2016. Cheating in bridge {{WPCBIndex

See also

References

External links