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Subscribe to RSSLance Armstrong faces serious new legal trouble: The Justice Department has joined one of his former racing teammates in suing him for using performance-enhancing drugs during the Tour de France. NBC Justice Correspondent Pete Williams reports.
Lance Armstrong faces a powerful new adversary -- the United States government.
The Justice Department notified a federal court Friday that it is joining one of his former racing teammates in suing him for using performance-enhancing drugs during the Tour de France.
The government signed on to a lawsuit filed two years ago by Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former Tour de France teammates who has already admitted cheating. Among its claims: Landis saw Armstrong store and then re-inject his own blood to boost his performance, and Armstrong twice gave Landis banned hormones before races.
The government’s legal theory in joining the lawsuit is that when Armstrong agreed to race for the U.S. Postal Service team a decade ago in the Tour de France, he defrauded the government, violating its strict ban on illegal drugs, all the while claiming he did not use them.
Though the government’s action presents a serious new legal threat to Armstrong, the Justice Department case is not foolproof: Legal experts say Armstrong could argue that his contract with the team owners never explicitly prohibited blood doping, and he could claim that he never signed any agreement directly with the Postal Service that banned the practice.
But if the government wins, Armstrong could face huge fines, because the Postal Service paid at least $30 million to sponsor his racing teams.
Armstrong's attorney, Robert Luskin, said in a statement Friday that the Postal Service had no losses deserving of compensation.
"Lance and his representatives worked constructively over these last weeks with federal lawyers to resolve this case fairly, but those talks failed because we disagree about whether the Postal Service was damaged," Luskin said. "The Postal's Services own studies show that the Service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship -- benefits totaling more than $100 million."
After denying for years that he cheated, Armstrong gave a general admission last month in an interview with Oprah Winfrey.
"This issue of performance enhancers, to me, we're going to pump up our tires, put water in our bottles and, oh yeah, that, too, is going to happen. That was it," he said.
The cycling website Velo News reported this week that Travis Tygart, the CEO of the US Anti-Doping Agency, wrote to Attorney General Eric Holder last month, urging the government to join the Landis lawsuit.
A decision by the Justice Department to join the case “in order to get to the bottom (or top) of this massive fraud would also be viewed by the press and public as necessary and legitimate,” the letter said.
Joel Saget / AFP - Getty Images
The cyclist's historic run of Tour de France championships made headlines, as did his fall from grace after being stripped of the titles in 2012.
This story was originally published on Fri Feb 22, 2013 11:58 AM EST
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I'm not sure what to make of the whole Lance thing but I don't think throwing good money at bad money is the answer.
With comments like that, it's obvious you don't work for the federal government. You are too smart for that.
Rome is burning and the Feds have nothing better to do than chase down a bicyle riding drug addict. Don't pay any attention to the semi loads of drugs coming in from points south. Looks as though stupid is ruling the assylum.
......and the mob goes on and on and on and on. They will not stop until they push lance to the brink of suicide.
Ironically, doesn't Floyd Landis make a fortune out of all this?
Floyd Landis will write a book sponsored by and endorsed the U S Dept of Justice, Eric Holder and President Obamalamdingdong.
Yes, Floyd is NOW PROTECTED by the U S GOVERNMENT and a always has been a jealous, less-than-desirable or honorable person.
Landis already wrote a book and it was a lousy seller. You can buy it at the local "Dollar Stores".
Obama's Department of Justice (Eric Holder) has no right to cases like these or the T Martin case in Florida or any other civil suit. It is just an EXPANSION of Obama's role in OUR DAILY LIVES.
One other point: Lance is as much a Victim as a Perp here, because most of the 'banned drugs' weren't 'banned' during the first 4 or 5 years he won. So, why pick on him > simply because he is AMERICAN. You think Ugunda or Nigeria or many other countries check their 'sports heroes' and penalize them 'retroactively' like the Good Old 'Honest' USA....NO they don't. The Stevenson or Stephenson boxer from CUBA who won gold the Olympics many times....and NEVER had a JOB other than FOR THE GOV of Cuba (Castro) > I'll bet he used some of 'today's banned items'...just sayin
What a GINORMOUS waste of money. Despicable.
Another Red Herring to distract us from the real problems we are facing.
another pathetic action by the Justice department that can bring itself to arrest and convict a single banker who stole billions from the American people and caused a world wide melt down.
I hope this doesn't end in a suicide, like their hideous pursuit of Aaron Swartz
So if they win the lawsuit and get the $30 million back does that mean the price of stamps will drop a penny or two?
LOL. No Jon, I think they'll focus on lowering oil and gas prices, yuck, yuck, yuck!
Lanids a liar cheat and a person found guilty of fraud will get 25 to 30 percent of this moeny and he does not have to do a thing. Thanks holder and tygart for making a dbag rich while using our tax dollars. Great jobs you guys will be remeber as great americans and this clean athlete thanks you for making a cheater rich, great job usada!
Let's see that Mr. Hot Crap attitude now. Looks like he'll be ride a bike over railroad ties, without a seat
HeHe ... as a competitive cyclist, I almost know what that feels like ... I often wondered when riding a road bike for 5 hours seated on an inch-wide seat if having only one testicle was an advantage.
I can not see the governments case going to far, They have for years declared the USPS as a non government run independent business, so good luck on that one.
Note to self...never tell the truth, when you do the Government will come after you. He should have kept his mouth shut and let the losers who are concerned about people who ride bikes stew in their uncertainty of not knowing whether or not the guy was "doping"...at the end of the day, who cares?
So what about all the other former US Postal team members who also admitted to doping...including Landis??? Shouldn't they also be included in the lawsuit? Lance was not the only person who benefited financially from the sponsorship. Landis filed this suit to make money...he could care less about cleaning up the sport.
Personally I think Lance should suffer some financial hit for what he has done but I do not think he should be the only one. There are a lot of former team members who have been pretty successful thanks to their association with Lance and they should shoulder some of the responsibility. They had no problem doping and keeping their mouths shut while the money flowed in.
Right now, on appearances, it looks like this is just a campaign to bring down one guy not clean up the sport or get to the bottom of things.
DESTROY Lance Armstrong.
The God Damn Government needs to stay the hell out of peoples business. I don't care if he was representing the USA or not. They can say your banned from ever competing again but there needs to be a line drawn in the sand here. The Government wants to go after somebody go after Obama and sue him for all the bad decisions he made that cost the taxpayers billions. As it is till there done with lance he will have nothing left.
Much easier to go after Lance Armstrong than to spend your time on criminals like illegal immigrants. It get's you better press from the lib media too.
WTF, how does this benefit the American taxpayers?
America has enough nukes to turn Russian to embers, and then we can nuke them again just to watch the embers dance! My point being, what is the point of this investigation?
"Rome is burning", but hey let's go after Lance.
Let's see-US Post Office spends 30M to sponser Lance Armstrong. How does that help the USPO? Maybe I'll buy more USPO stamps. No, I have no choice but to buy from them. Why did a gov't agency (yes, I know they are and they are not) spend this money. I suggest our news media spend time digging up gov't waste and exposing it (including both "sides of the isle") rather than reporting on Lance Armstrong, or a crime on the other side of the world, or an undersea sighting--all of which will have no affect on our future.
The government will go after Armstrong for doping but they will not prosecute bankers that they bailed out to the tune of Billions....or is it trillions of dollars....I lose track. Our government should be sued for incompetence!
He's white. That's all Holder needs to know. Illegal immigrants are ignored.
Obama's Call Girls - While golfing with Tiger, Obama was looking for a call girl.
He found three such girls in a local pub, a blonde, a brunette and a redhead.
To the blonde he said, I am the President of the United States. Now, how much would it cost me to spend some time with you?' She replied,$200.'
To the brunette he asked the same question. Her reply was $100.
He then asked the redhead... Her reply was...... Mr. President, if you can get my skirt up as high as my taxes, my panties as low as my wages, get that thing of yours as hard as the times we are living in.. And keep it rising like the price of gas, keep me warmer than it is in my apartment and screw me the way you have retirees, Then you can have it for free, like the immigrants.
HONESTY IS THE BEST POLICY
Give some of the money back to the USPS, they need it most!!!
And instead of banning Lance from cycling for life, how about making him put TASSELS on his handlebars from now on. . .
Why would the USPS be giving away money? If they are that stupid they should all have to ride bikes to deliver the mail.
Even on Saturday....
The Postal Service has been hurting for years yet they somehow found 30 million to sponser Armstrong. Something is wrong with this picture.
Armstrong is obviously a total scum bag, BUT, this is a civil matter and the government has no business getting involved.
Seems the "progressives" are being super progressive in sticking their noses where it doesn't belong.