USADA will receive funds for Floyd Landis hearing

The US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) will receive significant financial help for the upcoming doping hearing against Floyd Landis at the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS).

The five-day hearing began yesterday in New York. USADA has already spent well into six figures to prosecute Landis, who had his 2006 Tour de France title stripped after an explosive nine-day public hearing last May.

But USADA received some help from the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) in that case and is getting more for the CAS hearing. One source familiar with the arrangement said that WADA was footing the entire bill; another said "most" of the bill. Neither agreed to be identified because of the sensitivity of the case.

USADA's budget is about US$12 million per year, 70 percent of which is funded by the federal government and the rest of which comes from the US Olympic Committee.

A former Landis spokesman guessed the cost of the cyclist's defense, from the start through the CAS hearing, would be about US$2 million.

Meanwhile, a conservative estimate of USADA's bill for the case -- which includes expenses and pay for lawyers and witnesses -- adds up to around 5 percent to 10 percent of the agency's annual budget. Assistance from WADA has helped defray some of that.

"It became apparent, from the way in which the matter was being defended, that further efforts had to be made to ensure that all relevant information was put before the tribunal, and that the witnesses required could be present," WADA said in a statement on Tuesday. "This required some assistance from WADA."

WADA said the decision was made after the International Cycling Union (UCI) refused to offer help, "which was disappointing, particularly as it is a case under UCI rules."

UCI rules place the burden of Landis' prosecution on USADA.

USADA CEO Travis Tygart declined comment.

A CAS spokesman, Matthieu Reeb, said he did not know who paid for what.

"Given the number of CAS arbitrations in which USADA is involved, I can imagine that they have a substantial budget," Reeb said in an e-mail.

He said CAS pays the costs and fees of the arbitrators, who come from New York, New Zealand and Paris for this case.

This hearing will not be open to the public. It is a trial de novo -- a new case -- which means Landis isn't technically appealing the last decision, but rather having the same case heard anew.

Thus, witnesses will be brought to New York to give some of the same testimony they gave during the first hearing.

Landis' attorney, Maurice Suh, also declined comment. In the past, he has expressed no concern about depleting USADA's coffers, because it's his and Landis' belief that USADA runs an unfair system that is rigged against athletes.

"Floyd is happy to be moving forward and to have this opportunity to clear his name," Suh said in a statement on Monday. "We are confident that the evidence will prove his innocence and allow him to resume his racing career."