Floyd Landis, the man who succeeded Lance Armstrong as Tour de France champion in 2006 only to be stripped of that title after failing a doping control, has struck a deal with federal prosecutors over allegations of fraud.
The news was revealed on the same day that it was confirmed that Armstrong, his former team leader at US Postal Service, is himself set to lose his seven Tour de France titles and faces a lifetime ban from sport.
Landis had denied doping, fighting the charges against him through an arbitration process with the help of more than $1 million raised from supporters via The Floyd Fairness Fund.
In May 2010, however, he publicly confessed to having taken drugs throughout his career, including during the 2006 Tour de France, leading to him being charged with having solicited those donations fraudulently.
ESPN reports that Landis will appear before a judge in San Diego, California, today to be arraigned on a count related to that charge but that under an agreement he has reached with the US Attorney’s Office, provided he can repay donors within three years, the charge will be dismissed.
Landis will not have to repay the full amount since some donors may choose to waive repayment – indeed he confirmed that several large donors had already indicated they would do so – but the agreement does depend on his being able to earn an income during the period.
According to ESPN, had Landis not reached agreement with prosecutors, he could have faced up to 20 years in jail, a $250,000 fine, and would still have been liable to repay his donors in full.
“I'm glad to have a concrete procedure for repayment in place," commented Landis.
"For me, taking the step of making restitution to the donors who were misled back then is one more step in righting the wrong choices I made and allows me to turn the page and to focus on what's next in life for me.
"I can never undo what happened, but to the extent that there are ways such as this that I can try to rectify things, I'll be more able to focus on the future and living an honest life after having done them."
The allegations Landis made of systemic doping at US Postal led to a Federal Grand Jury investigation being opened against Armstrong and other members of the team.
While that investigation was shelved earlier this year, USADA continued to pursue its own case against Armstrong, culminating in the announcement last night from the former cyclist that he had decided not to seek arbitration.
Ask the Dutch, their winter bike is the same as their summer bike, their shopping bike, their carry a friend home from the pub bike… I figured 17...
You voted to be worse off? I've read some dumb bullshit about this topic but that takes the biscuit for sheer stupidity.
I thought that the driving was shocking, but the police response is almost as bad. From the article it appears that this 'no update' is official...
Plenty of GoPro mounts available for -for instance- Moon lights, to achieve an arrangement like the picture above (I use one for a day flasher). If...
Oh wise one, could you define 'further afield' please. British Cycling have asked the government for a precise number of miles/kilometres, so far...
I've never built wheels from those rims, but I recall they need slightly longer spokes than Open Pro's, which is confirmed by the spoke length...
Odd that on the Ribble bike builder the wheels in the rescue are not compatible with the tyres in the review.
That was my first thought when I read the article. Compare that to Zermatt in Switzerland. There are tools on cables outside every cable car...
I've looked a few times at xshifters which seem to do the same thing for road bikes. But haven't pulled the trigger worrying about buying from a...
It's beyond me why anyone would care, we're going for a ride, wear what you damn well like....