Lance Armstrong Facing £78m Lawsuit from US Government

Lance Armstrong is facing a £78m ($119m) lawsuit from the US government for defrauding a federal agency and becoming ‘unjustly enriched’ through doping.

Armstrong was stripped of seven Tour de France titles for admitting to doping and is named along with United States Postal Service (USPS) team manager Johan Bruyneel and management Company Tailwind Sports as further defendants in the case.

The lawsuit is in conjunction with whistle-blower Floyd Landis, a former team-mate of Armstrong. Landis could receive up to 25% of money recovered.

The United States Justice Department is pursuing damages under the False Claims Act and the lawsuit will pursue the sponsorship money paid to Armstrong by USPS, on the grounds that Armstrong and Bruyneel had defrauded the government by breaking the terms of their sponsorship contract.

The complaint read: “Defendants were unjustly enriched to the extent of the payments and other benefits they received from the USPS, either directly or indirectly.”

According to papers USPS paid £26.2m ($40m) to be the title sponsor of Armstrong’s team and paid him a salary of £11.7m ($17.84m) before bonuses.

A jury trial has been requested and the government are looking for triple losses of the sponsorship funds.

Armstrong’s attorney Elliot Peters labelled the government suit “opportunistic” and “insincere”.

“The US Postal Service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship of the cycling team,” Peters said. “Its own studies repeatedly and conclusively prove this. The USPS was never the victim of fraud.

“Lance Armstrong rode his heart out for the USPS team, and gave the brand tremendous exposure during the sponsorship years.”

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