$2.8M Prize for Big Fish Tangled in Court, Cheating Charges

OCEAN CITY, MD – The whopper of a tale of a $2.8 million prize claimed by a Florida boat in an Ocean City, Maryland, tournament has begun to smell fishy, say organizers, who have refused to pay the winning claim and leveled accusations of cheating in court documents.

The Kallianassa, a boat from Naples, Florida, stands to win $2.818 million for catching a 76.5-pound white marlin, the only one of that species that met the tournament's qualifying standards. It is the first $2 million fish in the tournament's history.

Angler Phil Heasley reportedly landed the $2 million marlin, according to the tournament website. But the White Marlin Open organizers have file a lawsuit in Worcester County Circuit Court seeking to deny payment to Heasley, alleging Heasley and his crew may have had lines in the water before the allowed start time on Aug. 9 and otherwise cheated.

Before such a mammoth payout, the tourney requires that the winner pass a polygraph test. Officials say in their lawsuit that Heasley failed two lie detector tests, as did his boat's captain and shipmates. Tournament officials have told the court “not one person on defendant Heasley’s vessel, ‘Kallianassa,’ passed a polygraph exam,” WTOP reports.

The tourney was held Aug. 8-12.

The fish that are weighed in for the tournament — 23 white marlin in total were weighed in last week, in addition to others — are filleted, and most of the meat is donated to a local food bank in Maryland.

Patch Editor Karen Wall contributed to this story.

»Photo of $2.818 million prize marlin in question, courtesy of White Marlin Open