Disgraced Cyclist Lance Armstrong Loses Bid To Halt $100M Federal Lawsuit Against Him

AUSTIN, TX — A federal judge on Monday refused to block a $100 million lawsuit against disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong filed by the government in connection to his past use of performance-enhancing drugs, according to a published report.

The lawsuit was originally filed by Armstrong's former U.S. Postal Service teammate Floyd Landis, the Associated Press reported. Once Armstrong finally admitted he cheated in order to win the prestigious Tour de France a record seven times from 1999-2005, the federal government joined the lawsuit in 2013.

Armstrong was subsequently stripped of his titles, and was banned from future competition.

Landis, also an admitted doper, was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title as a result of his juicing. He subsequently sued Armstrong under the federal False Claims Act, alleging Armstrong and his team committed fraud against the government for cheating while riding under the U.S. Postal Service banner, the AP reported.

The USPS contract was a lucrative one for the team, which was operated by Tailwind Sports Corp. It paid the team some $32 million from 2000 to 2014, according to court records cited by the AP. Of that, Armstrong got nearly $13.5 million, according to the report.

The judge's decision to go forward with a trial is the latest setback for the beleaguered Armstrong, once lionized the world over before his spectacular fall from grace. Since admitting to doping, he's lost all of his major endorsements and has paid out millions in damages and settlements from a series of subsequent lawsuits.

But the Landis sit would be the biggest hit, by far, for the embattled former champion. The ruling by U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper in Washington is the latest and biggest blow for the disgraced athlete, setting him up for a trial that will likely begin this fall, the AP noted.

As the news service explained it, the law enables Landis and the federal government to sue in recovering the money and to secure "treble" damages representing triple the amount — with Armstrong likely on the hook for all of it. As for Landis, he stands to get up to a quarter of all damages awarded, according to the report.

Armstrong has claimed he and the team ended up not owing the USPS any amount, claiming the agency made exponentially more than it paid via the sponsorship, the AP reported. As evidence, Armstrong's attorneys have introduced internal studies purported to show media exposure and media benefits upwards of $100 million, according to the report.

But the government has offered its rebuttal to the claim, saying the negative fallout from the doping scandal tainted the agency given its association with Armstrong, the AP reported.

Elliott Peters, one of Armstrong's attorneys, was confident the USPS would not be victorious with its claims of financial losses come the trial date: "There is no actual evidence of any quantifiable financial harm," the AP quoted him as saying. "So the government may now proceed to a trial that, as a practical matter, it cannot win."

Last January, Armstrong's post-doping losses may have prompted him to put his West Austin home on the market for a whopping $8.25 million — roughly four times its appraised value. Once word got out to the local press, however, the listing was abruptly yanked from a real estate sales website.

>>> Read the full story at Associated Press here

Image of Lance Armstrong via Wikimedia Commons