Co-defendants in Lance Armstrong case settle lawsuit with US government

Bill Stapleton, Lance Armstrong's longtime agent, and Barton Knaggs, Armstrong’s longtime business partner, have agreed to pay $68,000 to the federal government and $90,000 to Floyd Landis’s lawyers to get out of the $100m lawsuit against the disgraced former cyclist. Landis had sued them and Armstrong on behalf of the United States government in a case that is due to go to trial in November.

In 2010, Landis accused Armstrong and his associates of defrauding the US government. The case regards whether or not federal funds acquired via the sponsorship of his team by the US Postal Service (USPS) were misused.

Should the case go against Armstrong, it could cost him up to $100 million – three times the amount USPS paid in sponsorship.

USA Today reports that as a result of this week’s settlement, Stapleton and Knaggs have been dismissed from the case. Landis's lawyer, Paul Scott, commented: “It allows us to focus our efforts and attention now on the upcoming trial of the central responsible party in the case.”

In 2014, Stapleton and Knaggs agreed to pay $600,000 to the same parties, but the federal government objected to the settlement, apparently in an effort to get more information out of Stapleton and Knaggs before trial.

Earlier this month, Armstrong’s lawyers filed a list of evidence they would like to see excluded from the trial, including the 2012 report produced by the US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) and potential witnesses Betsy Andreu and Greg LeMond.