Feds can ask Armstrong about sex life
Witness’ relationship could play role in suit
The federal government has received the green light to ask additional questions — on a limited basis — about Lance Armstrong ’s sex life, according to a ruling by a federal judge.
That means Armstrong likely will be asked to confirm or clarify the nature of his personal relationship with ex-business associate Stephanie McIlvain, a key witness in the Armstrong doping scandal. The government said such questions were relevant to her credibility and whether she had motivation to lie on his behalf. Armstrong ’s attorneys disagreed and had asked the judge for a protective order to stop additional questions about it.
U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper issued his ruling Monday.
“The court will permit the government and (former cyclist Floyd Landis) to engage in limited questioning of Armstrong regarding the subject matter … but only to confirm or clarify previous deposition testimony in this case,” Cooper wrote. “No further questioning — of Armstrong or other witnesses — about this subject matter is permitted without prior authorization by the court.”
The issue is part of the government’s $100 million civil fraud suit filed against Armstrong, a case that originally was filed by Landis as a whistle-blower for the government in 2010.
Attorneys for the government and Landis previously asked about her relationship with Armstrong during her pretrial deposition testimony June 9. Her responses are under seal.
A few weeks later, Armstrong ’s attorneys asked Cooper to prohibit additional questions about it, saying they were “irrelevant, designed only to embarrass or annoy and ought to be forbidden.”
The government rebutted that argument last week.
“Armstrong ’s privacy interests are plainly insufficient to justify prohibiting discovery into infor- mation that could explain why McIlvain might be motivated to lie for his benefit,” government attorneys stated.
McIlvain was Armstrong ’s liaison to Oakley, the eyewear company that sponsored him. She had been a key figure in the Armstrong doping saga dating to 1996, when she was in an Indiana hospital room with Armstrong and others when he was having cancer treatment. At that time, Armstrong told a doctor he had used various performance-enhancing drugs, according to testimony by former Armstrong friends Frankie and Betsy Andreu.
McIlvain later testified in a different case in 2005 that she didn’t remember hearing such an admission from Armstrong — testimony that worked to his benefit as he continued to make false denials about doping. Without corroboration from other witnesses, he was able to vilify the Andreus and make it a case of his word vs. theirs. It wasn’t until after the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency compiled a huge file of other evidence against him in 2012 that he admitted in January 2013 to doping.
The government is suing Armstrong on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service, which paid more than $30 million as a sponsor of Armstrong ’s and Landis’ cycling team. The government says Armstrong was unjustly enriched because the team violated its sponsorship contract by doping and concealed such violations to continue payment. Under the False Claims Act, damages could be tripled if the government succeeds — up to nearly $100 million in this case.