The U.S. government filed court documents on Tuesday laying out its case against cyclist Lance Armstrong, who is accused of defrauding the Postal Service by taking millions of dollars in sponsorship money while flouting professional cycling rules by doping.
The U.S. Department of Justice said in February it would join a whistleblower lawsuit brought in 2010 by Armstrong's former teammate, Floyd Landis, and on Tuesday filed its formal complaint. Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and was banned for life from cycling in 2012 after accusations he had cheated for years. In January, he said the accusations were true in an interview with television host Oprah Winfrey.
Armstrong and his teammates from Tailwind Sports were paid $40 million by the Postal Service from 1998 to 2004, according to the suit. Armstrong's salary during that time, excluding bonuses, was $17.9 million, according to the complaint. The government is suing under the False Claims Act and can recoup up to three times the amount it lost as a result of the fraud. The complaint also alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraud.
An attorney for Armstrong said the complaint was opportunistic and insincere. "The U.S. Postal Service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship of the cycling team. The USPS was never the victim of fraud," said attorney Elliot Peters in a statement. "Lance Armstrong rode his heart out for the USPS team, and gave the brand tremendous exposure during the sponsorship years."...
10:07 AM, Apr 24, 2013
Paris: Lance Armstrong returned four samples with traces of banned corticosteroids in the 1999 Tour de France, the International Cycling Union (UCI) said on Wednesday, although the governing body added it did not handle them as positive tests. On Tuesday the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad published a copy of an alleged internal UCI memo which said a lawyer for the sport's ruling body had said the American's samples from the...
01:19 AM, Apr 18, 2013
Steffen Kjaersgaard, a team-mate of Lance Armstrong's at US Postal from 2000-03, will not face sanctions, despite admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs, Norwegian anti-doping authorities said on Monday. The Norwegian admitted doping between 1998 and 2003 at a news conference last October, one day after the International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed it would not appeal against the stripping of Armstrong's seven Tour de France titles. However, Anti-Doping Norway said in...
06:55 PM, Apr 08, 2013
Austin: Lance Armstrong has asked a Texas court to dismiss a lawsuit by a Dallas promotions company seeking repayment of more than $12 million in bonuses paid for winning the Tour de France. SCA Promotions sued Armstrong and his manager Bill Stapleton in state district court in Dallas in February, claiming Armstrong committed fraud by using performance-enhancing drugs to win the Tour seven times. SCA paid Armstrong's team management company...
05:28 PM, Apr 07, 2013
New York: Lance Armstrong's plan to return to athletic competition was stopped by the International Swimming Federation (FINA) as he was pulled out of a swimming event. Armstrong, who is serving a lifetime ban from Olympic sports because of his doping violations, will not compete in the Masters South Central Zone Swimming Championships at the University of Texas this weekend after FINA raised objections on Thursday, reports Xinhua. The 41-year-old...
04:50 PM, Apr 05, 2013
Lance Armstrong has been personally urged to make a full confession of all his involvement in doping by the founder of the lobby group Change Cycling Now. ...
09:31 AM, Mar 14, 2013
The 40-year-old former rider declared to have used EPO, blood transfusions and cortisones from 1997 until end of his career. ...
05:13 PM, Mar 06, 2013
"It's just my feeling. I don't think players are that sophisticated in tennis. It's not their culture. I don't think it's in their nature," the 14-time Grand Slam champion said. ...
05:47 PM, Mar 05, 2013
The US accused Armstrong of defrauding the postal service by taking its sponsorship money at the same time he was doping and using performance-enhancing drugs. ...
08:18 AM, Feb 23, 2013
Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong on Thursday was sued by a company that paid him about $12 million for three of his seven Tour de France wins that have since been stripped from him for his use of banned drugs. ...
09:34 AM, Feb 08, 2013
In an exclusive interview, the India batsman said after cancer treatment his life has ceased to be all cricket. ...
08:41 PM, Feb 05, 2013
The India batsman said Lance Armstrong will always be his hero but he should not have taken performance enhancing drugs. ...
11:53 PM, Feb 04, 2013
Bradley Cooper has formally been approached by director J.J. Abrams to star in a biopic on cyclist Lance Armstrong. ...
01:12 PM, Jan 28, 2013
USADA chief claims that despite finally coming clean about his use of performance-enhancing drugs, Armstrong lied about several key points during the talk show. ...
10:58 AM, Jan 28, 2013
In excerpts of his interview with the
CBS network scheduled for Sunday broadcast, USADA CEO Travis Tygart said he had written a letter to Armstrong with the offer. ...
12:31 PM, Jan 26, 2013
The class-action complaint was filed in federal court in Sacramento, California after Armstrong admitted that he had cheated his way to a record seven Tour de France titles. ...
08:45 AM, Jan 24, 2013
OWN said that 12.2 million Americans and 15 million people overseas watched the encounter over two nights. ...
11:57 AM, Jan 23, 2013
Federer said he was saddened by Lance Armstrong's admission that he cheated his way to seven Tour de France wins. ...
09:34 AM, Jan 20, 2013
The cyclist said the penalty he was given by the USADA was much harsher than the sanctions dished out to other self-confessed cheats. ...
09:30 AM, Jan 19, 2013
The program was seen by a total of 4.3 million viewers in Thursday's back-to-back airings. ...
09:23 AM, Jan 19, 2013
