US hits back in Armstrong lawsuit filings

WASHINGTON: The US government fired back at Lance Armstrong in a federal court filing after the doping-disgraced American cyclist had asked for the dismissal of a civil fraud lawsuit against him.

Armstrong, who admitted taking performance-enhancing drugs to win the seven Tour de France titles that were stripped from him, had argued that the government, including his former team sponsor theUS Postal Service, should have known he was doping all along despite his lies denying it.

Armstrong also argued in a July request to dismiss that the US Postal Service received the benefits attached to his victories for their US$40mil (RM129mil) sponsorship from 1998-2004, but the filings on Monday in response to Armstrong’s claims challenged those assertions.

“The government did not get a winner,” the government filing declared.

“On the contrary, it got a fraud and all of the publicity and exposure that goes along with having sponsored a fraud. That is decidedly not what the government bargained for.

“The United States should have an opportunity to recover damages for the money that they paid in reliance on Armstrong’s many lies.”

Armstrong, who confessed his doping last January in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey, pulled off “arguably the greatest fraud in the history of professional sports,” according to the government filing.

“Now that he is being called to account for the damage he caused, Armstrong contends that his deceit should have been clear to everyone all along... But the Postal Service, like millions of others, cannot be faulted for having been deceived by Armstrong.”

The original case against Armstrong was brought in 2010 by former Armstrong teammate Floyd Landis, himself a disgraced US rider who was stripped of a Tour de France title and later admitted doping. — AFP