Lance Armstrong is being sued by the US government. According to the Justice Department, Armstrong defrauded the Postal Service by taking millions of dollars in sponsorship money while doping.?
Lance Armstrong considers a question from a reporter after his second-place finish in the Power of Four mountain bicycle race at the base of Aspen Mountain in Aspen, Colo. last summer. Armstrong is being sued by the US government for taking sponsorship money from the US Postal Service.
David Zalubowski/AP/File
EnlargeThe?U.S. government?filed court documents Tuesday laying out its case against cyclist?Lance?Armstrong, who is accused of defrauding the?Postal Service?by taking millions of dollars in sponsorship money while flouting professional cycling rules by doping.
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The U.S. Department of Justice said in February it would join a whistleblower lawsuit brought in 2010 by?Armstrong's former teammate,?Floyd Landis, and on Tuesday filed its formal complaint.
Armstrong?has been stripped of his seven Tour de?France?titles and was banned for life from cycling in 2012 after accusations he had cheated for years. In January, he said the accusations were true in an interview with television host Oprah Winfrey.
Armstrong?and his teammates from Tailwind Sports were paid $40 million by the?Postal Service?from 1998 to 2004, according to the suit.?Armstrong's salary during that time, excluding bonuses, was $17.9 million, according to the complaint.
The government is suing under the False Claims Act and can recoup up to three times the amount it lost as a result of the fraud. The complaint also alleges breach of contract, unjust enrichment and fraud.
Attorneys for?Armstrong?could not be immediately reached for comment Tuesday evening.
The complaint echoes Landis' claims that?Armstrong?and others defrauded the?U.S. government?by falsely denying the doping accusations and continuing their sponsorship relationship with the?Postal Service.
When the government believes a suit has merit, it may take over the litigation. The individuals, or whistleblowers, get a portion of the proceeds if the case is successful.
The U.S. complaint accuses?Armstrong?of using at least one prohibited substance or method in connection with every Tour de?France?between 1999 and 2005. "Moreover, he knew that his teammates were engaged in similar doping practices, and he actively encouraged and facilitated those practices," the complaint said.
"(T)he United Stated suffered damage in that it did not receive the value of the services for which it bargained," the complaint said.
A lawyer for Landis,?Paul Scott, said in statement that he was "pleased to see the?United States?take this important step toward recovering taxpayer dollars lost to fraud."
The case is U.S. ex rel Landis v.?Tailwind Sports Corp, U.S. District Court for the?District of Columbia, No. 10-976. (Reporting by Jessica Dye in New York; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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