A cheating charge was leveled against Mitth'raw'nuru (core name "Thrawn") while he was a cadet at the Chiss Ascendancy's Taharim Academy on Naporar. Senior Cadet Irizi'ar'alani "Ziara" was also named on the charge even though she had merely proctored the exam on which Thrawn stood accused of cheating. At the time of the allegations, Thrawn's grades were already at the top of his class. The charge originated after Thrawn took a combat simulation exam on which he scored significantly higher than any cadet in the Academy's history. The event occurred between approximately 39 BBY and 37 BBY, as those years are when Thrawn attended the Taharim Academy.
During the simulation, Thrawn had invented a stealth maneuver which disabled the sensors on one enemy ship and caused his ship to disappear from view of the other opponent vessels, leading to his exceptional score. The exam consisted of a combat simulation and was programmed to prevent the simulation from being run more than once with the same parameters. Thrawn insisted on his innocence but claimed that he was only able to perform the maneuver because of the simulation's exact parameters. As a result, Thrawn could not prove his innocence by repeating the exam.
When the official tribunal was called for the cheating charge, the staff of the Academy effectively presumed Thrawn's guilt, and the young cadet seemed resigned to expulsion from the Academy. However, Senior Cadet Ziara suspected Thrawn was innocent and contacted the office of General Ba'kif over a lunch break. To the belated recognition and great surprise of the assembled instructors and Aristocra, Ba'kif showed up to the tribunal. The General asked whether the instructors had records of the parameters of Thrawn's exam, which they did. He then insisted that Thrawn demonstrate the maneuver in a combat exercise in the system set up with those exact parameters.
During the exercise, Thrawn successfully performed his stealth maneuver, impressing Colonel Wevary, establishing his innocence and demonstrating his brilliance.
Cadets Thrawn and Ziara were acquitted of wrongdoing. Thrawn invited the Senior Cadet out to celebrate his acquittal. Thrawn promised "drama" and "intrigue". The young woman expected music and drinking, but Thrawn took her to an art museum on Naporar to analyze alien artwork.
Years later, Senior Captain Thrawn performed the same stealth maneuver while infiltrating the Rapacc system on a reconnaissance mission in 19 BBY.
Thrawn's cheating charge appeared in a flashback in the 2020 novel Thrawn Ascendancy: Chaos Rising by Timothy Zahn.