Former teammate of Lance Armstrong, Floyd Landis, who has accused the seven-time Tour de France winner of doping while riding for the US Postal Service team, has filed a federal whistle-blower lawsuit, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Landis won the Tour de France in 2006, but had the title stripped because of a positive drug test. This spring, he ended years of denials by admitting he took performance-enhancing drugs. He also accused Armstrong and other cyclists of doping.
Citing anonymous sources, the Journal reported in a story posted on its Web site on Friday that Landis has filed a lawsuit under the federal False Claims Act. The law allows Americans to sue on behalf of the government alleging the government has been defrauded.
The Journal said the lawsuit is sealed, so it’s not known exactly what it claims.
The newspaper said the US Justice Department is weighing whether to intervene in the suit. As a whistle-blower, Landis could collect 30 percent of any money the government recovers.
The Postal Service paid US$30.6 million to the team’s management company to sponsor the team from 2001 through 2004, according to a sponsorship agreement reviewed by the Journal.
The contract said “negative publicity” due to “alleged possession, use or sale of banned substances” by riders or team personnel would constitute an “event of default,” as would a failure to take “action” in the event a rider violates a morals or drug clause.
Armstrong has denied using performance-enhancing drugs.
“This news that Floyd Landis is in this for the money reconfirms everything we all knew about Landis,” Armstrong spokesman Mark Fabiani said on Friday in a statement. “By his own admission, he is a serial liar, an epic cheater and a swindler who raised and took almost a million dollars from his loyal fans based on his lies. What remains a complete mystery is why the government would devote a penny of the taxpayers’ money to help Floyd Landis further his vile, cheating ambitions. And all aimed directly at Lance Armstrong, a man who earned every victory and passed every test while working for cancer survivors all over the world.”
Armstrong is also under scrutiny in a separate federal investigation into cheating in professional cycling. His attorneys met this week with federal prosecutors in Los Angeles.
Officials with the US Justice Department’s commercial litigation branch and a Postal inspector have also requested documents from a 2005 arbitration case in which a Dallas promotions company alleged Armstrong used performance-enhancing drugs and refused to pay him, the Journal reported.
The arbitration panel ruled in Armstrong’s favor in that case.
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