Re: Million Dollar Mistake !
here is the latest confirmed info :
MOREHEAD CITY, N.C.
Officials with the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in Morehead City, N.C., announced Monday that they are holding off on a decision about the results of the event, which concluded Saturday.
Tournament officials withheld payment to the winning team after it failed a polygraph test - issued to several team members after the event.
In question is a tournament rule that requires everyone - including the captain and mates - to have a North Carolina Coastal Recreational Fishing License.
A mate on the Hatteras-based Citation didn't have a required license, but tournament officials are looking into whether the unnamed mate had been issued the license in time to comply with tournament rules.
A spokes person with the North Carolina Division of Marine Fisheries on Monday identified the mate as 22-year-old Peter Wann of Alexandria. On Sunday Wann was cited for fishing without a license - which carries a $35 fine and $125 in court costs.
?The mate in question was cited Sunday after the Big Rock had notified our marine patrol that there were some concerns,? NCDMF spokes person Patricia Smith told the Raleigh News and Observer.
Tournament director Crystal Watters said Monday that tournament officials are working to solve the situation.
"We have been in contact with the Division of Marine Fisheries, as well as the North Carolina Attorney General's Office," Watters said in a press release Monday. "We are exercising due diligence in this investigation, so to protect our participants, sponsors and charities."
A ruling against the team would result in the loss of a little more than $1.2 million in winnings - $318,750 instantly awarded Monday for catching a tournament-record 883-pound blue marlin, and an additional $912,825 for winning the overall blue marlin division.
The license in question costs $15 for North Carolina residents and $30 for nonresidents.
Andy Thomasson of Richmond caught the fish - his first blue marlin. After the announcement he told the Jacksonville (N.C.) Daily News: "We didn't do anything wrong. But one of our people did. He failed to get a fishing license, but we didn't know it."
If the team on Citation, a vessel partly owned by Michael Topp, is disqualified, runner-up Carnivore, out of Cape Carteret, N.C., would take the big money on a 528-pound blue marlin brought in by angler John Parks of Jacksonville.
