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news
Lance Armstrong Photo by Maryse Alberti, Courtesy of Sony Pictures ClassicsLance Armstrong settles $100m USPS case for $5m
Lance Armstrong has agreed to pay $5m to the US government and former US Postal Service (USPS) team-mate Floyd Landis to settle the whistelblower lawsuit that could have cost him $100m in damages.
Armstrong had been due to go to trial next month, but a deal was agreed yesterday.
US Justice Department lawyer, Chad Readler, said: "No one is above the law. This settlement demonstrates that those who cheat the government will be held accountable."
Landis brought the suit in 2010, alleging that Armstrong and others had misused federal funds, in the form of sponsorship money, to finance the doping programme that brought seven Tour de France victories between 1999 and 2005.
The US Department of Justice joined the action after Armstrong finally confessed to doping early the following year.
Landis told ESPN: "I really didn't want to relive it in a courtroom, and I don't think Lance did either, and I don't know that that would have really accomplished anything.
"Rather than going through that humiliation again, we're better off. I mean, it was up to Lance, but I think he probably feels the same way. He benefited more than everyone else and he's also paid more than everyone else.”
Betsy Andreu, wife of Armstrong's former team mate Frankie Andreu and a famously fierce critic of the Texan, felt rather differently.
"It's utterly shocking that the government settled for so little," she said.
"I would have liked to have been questioned under oath. That's my goal. And whether or not the jury would have convicted him would have been a different story, but it would have been nice to have my say under oath. He tried to destroy me."
Under the False Claims Act, the US Government can recoup up to three times the original amount at issue ($32.3 million) meaning that Armstrong could have faced a bill of close to $100 million had he lost.
Armstrong’s lawyers argued that he didn’t owe anything because the USPS made far more off the sponsorship than it paid.
The government argued that Armstrong had been “unjustly enriched” through the sponsorship while the negative fallout from the doping scandal had tainted the USPS’s reputation.
In July last year, Bill Stapleton, Armstrong's longtime agent, and Barton Knaggs, his longtime business partner, agreed to pay $68,000 to the federal government and $90,000 to Landis’s lawyers to get out of the lawsuit.
“I am glad to resolve this case and move forward with my life,” said Armstrong in a statement. “I’m looking forward to devoting myself to the many great things in my life – my five kids, my wife, my podcast, several exciting writing and film projects, my work as a cancer survivor, and my passion for sports and competition.
“There is a lot to look forward to. I am particularly glad to have made peace with the Postal Service. While I believe that their lawsuit against me was without merit and unfair, I have since 2013 tried to take full responsibility for my mistakes, and make amends wherever possible.
“I rode my heart out for the Postal cycling team, and was always especially proud to wear the red, white and blue eagle on my chest when competing in the Tour de France. Those memories are very real and mean a lot to me.”
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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16 comments
Disappointing to settle for so little. With all the costs of the last five years of this, they're probably not even breaking even. Armstrong must be over the moon. He doesnt have so sell his houses, companies etc, he can surely afford to pay this out of his cheque account.
I didnt want him bankrupted, but wanted it to be more of a detterent than 5% of his net worth. There is zero incentive for current riders not to dope if they get to keep 95% of their wealth. A TdF champ seems to make about $5m salary and probably could do that or more in sponsorship/endorsements. So dope like crazy, win TdF, make tons of money, get busted and keep 95% of it ... Or you ride clean and never win TdF and make 95% less than the winner.
Disappointing.
How about sparing a million or two to share amongst us road.cc chappies?
Who?
You know him, that person who dragged our favourite sport to the lowest level it's ever been.
Now this is finished, hopefully that's the last we'll ever hear of him................ But somehow I doubt old big mouth will keep quiet about this.
taken from the BBC story:
"I'm looking forward to devoting myself to the many great things in my life - my five kids, my wife, my podcast, several exciting writing and film projects, my work as a cancer survivor, and my passion for sports and competition."
So no, he won't be retiring to a log cabin in the wilderness for the rest of his years. His sociopathic personality couldn't handle that.
Just because your a Sociopath dos'nt make you a bad person .....
He's hardly Idi Amin. He's not even up to 1/1000th of the level of the pain and suffering caused by Tony Blair. I'm sure in cycling terms he's a very naughty boy but other than cyclings circle nobody got affected by it. I'm surprised he actually HAS kept his mouth shut about everyone else involved in it. UCI members must have been shitting it when he got found out.
The whole thing about chasing LA for damages is fucking ridiculous, USPS have not being negatively impacted, they're a state organisation for one thing and people have little option but to choose them for their ordinary mailings.
Given what has gone on before with other big names and their serial doping (Merckx, Moser onwards) it's literally only the one person being hammered when in fact he promoted cycling in one of the bigest markets massively, he benefitted everyone, yes including himself but he has also lost the most including the frankly utterly preposterous removal of the titles in an era known to be loaded with dope cheats.
I made my feelings known about his resurgence after the cancer and knew he was on the gear long before most and seemingly those who simply wouldn't entertain that cycling was still full of dopers.
However I think the way he has being vilified and dragged through the gutter and beyond plus the financial claims are beyond the pale, I only wish that individuals who continue to attack Armstrong and black ball him, attack governments and private organisations as brutally and with as much vigour, you know the people that invariably are fucking us over as opposed a person who cheated but made cycling very entertaining and helped many people make a shit ton of money including the ones that are now fucking him over.
Oakley and Trek chiefs to sue next because they made way too much money off the back of Lance's career and are having trouble sleeping at night with this heavy weight on their shoulders.
They still make money on their previous associations with Lance Armstrong. Every clip of footage during his seven TdF wins show him on a Trek and wearing Oakley sunglasses. That is free advertising for them to this day.
It was a crock of shit anyway. The sponsors all gained due benefit at the time without any real comeback on it. Why should anyone be paying $100m over it?
Landis comes across as the sore loser here. If he hadn't been so shit at cheating he'd be the thing of legend. The truth was forced upon him, I doubt he'd have be so free with it otherwise.
If being a sore loser makes you $1M richer, I'd like to be in that club
Wow.. I wasn't expecting that.. Lord Voldemort has got away with that lightly considering what was at stake..
I for one am pleased to see the end of this story and for Voldemort who's had the threat of a $100m bill hanging over him for years now, he can finally get on with his life as can everyone involved with a bit of closure. The truth's been out there for years.. No one would have benefitted from this going all the way. No murderers here just disgruntled fans and sportspeople. Everyone's made some cash out of the story over the years. Move on.
Ha ha from now on I'll refer to him as Lord Voldemort.
What a crock of $hit. Betsy Andreu must be combusting with rage.
It's not about the money, IT'S ABOUT THE TRUTH.
''It's a deal, it's a steal; it's Sale of the F*****g century''