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Summary: A federal judge has dismissed part of the lawsuit filed by the government against Lance Armstrong for doping and lying about it for several years.
Part of the federal government’s civil fraud lawsuit against Lance Armstrong has been thrown out by a federal judge. Without this part of the lawsuit, Armstrong has a little chance of achieving victory over the $100 million charge.
The dismissed part of the lawsuit was requiring his cycling team to pay back the sponsorship money received from the U.S. Postal Service. The government was claiming the team had to pay back the money because they broke the contract when they used banned drugs and blood transfusions in order to improve their performances.
Read Lance Armstrong Admits to Doping in Oprah Winfrey Interview to learn how the truth came out.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper disagreed with the government’s use of the reverse false claim in this case. “The government…contends – again – that long-established principles of contract and restitution law obligated (the cycling team owner) to repay any funds attributable to a breach of the Sponsorship Agreement.”
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See Lance Armstrong’s Seven Tour de France Titles Stripped.
Without this claim, the government may face a harder time showing they were defrauded and suffered damages from the team doping. Other parts of the case such as the allegation that the cycling team made direct false claims for payment to the USPS are still provable.
Read Lance Armstrong Settles with Tour de France’s Promotions Company to see other good news for Armstrong.
The USPS paid the team over $30 million from 1998 to 2004. Under the False Claims Act, the $30 million could be more than tripled to $100 million. Studies show that the USPS made more than they paid over the course of several years having Armstrong wear the team gear during his Tour de France races. “USPS-commissioned studies conservatively valued the global exposure the USPS received from 2001 to 2004 at $138-147 million – more than four times the amount the government paid to sponsor the USPS team.”
Photo: 21cpw.com
