I want to approach this in a slightly different manner than some of the people posting here already have. I am not going to look at this directly as being a case of Mees vs Gino/Jon. I know Mees in passing, have never spoken to Jon, and have always had pleasant personal experiences with Gino myself. I don't necessarily want to pass judgment on either side.
What I do want to point out is a potential extreme case of hypocrisy regarding bans and punishments by TPCi. If TPCi wants to claim they saw insufficient evidence regarding the issue, and give the potentially guilty side a free pass and acquit them entirely, then that is their choice. If they feel that the party in question is GUILTY, they absolutely should be banned for the crime, not only based on the grounds of justice, but on past precedent set by previous handlings on their behalf. We've seen the Nick Schutte case. We've seen incidents, such as the case in Europe with "poopgate" for lack of a better term. Theft gets bans. The act doesn't have to be held immediately during the actual tournament. Those two precedents have both been established. I know of people who have been banned from the game FOR LIFE soley based on posting inappropriate images on this particular site. That CERTAINLY wasn't "during their events". Either TPCi feels there is not sufficient evidence to convict the party in question, and they are entirely innocent in their eyes, OR they committed the acts and need to be appropriately punished. I REFUSE to accept some pathetic "technicality" that has been COMPLETELY IGNORED by multiple past actions by the company being used in a situation like this. TPCi's handling of bannings and punishment for crooked behavior in the past year has been fickle and questionable at best, and seeing the trend continue in this manner really does make me doubt the direction of the policy as a whole. Both Magic and Yu-Gi-Oh have dealt with the problems of theft in the past, and have at least attempted to crack down on the issue. I really would prefer that Pokemon follow in the same footsteps and nip the problem in the bud as quickly as possible. This is sending a pretty unfortunate message. I want a cut and dry decision from TPCi on the issue. Either Gino and Jon are innocent of this crime and they did not do it and should not be punished, or they did do it, and should be punished. I don't think I can handle some vague loophole cop out of a reaction as the official response.
- Chris Fulop