Must Read: Judge says Armstrong must testify
An insurance company is trying to recover $3 million in bonuses it paid Armstrong from 1999 to 2001
Heading out the door? Read this article on the new Outside+ app available now on iOS devices for members! Download the app.
Texas judge orders Armstrong to answer doping questions — Associated Press
A judge in Texas has ordered Lance Armstrong to answer specific questions about his doping past and who knew about it, including his ex-wife and two former UCI presidents, by the end of September.
Travis County District Judge Tim Sulak gave the order to Armstrong last week, which is part of a lawsuit being levied against the former professional cyclist by Acceptance Insurance Holding. The company wants to recover $3 million in bonuses it paid Armstrong from 1999 to 2001. Three of Armstrong’s seven Tour de France victories occurred during that period, but he was stripped of all his titles last year after it was revealed he doped.
In its lawsuit, Acceptance is trying to prove that Armstrong and his associates covered up his doping activities by committing fraud. Armstrong’s ex-wife Kristin, his lawyers, U.S. Postal Service team officials, and former and current UCI Presidents Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid are named in the suit. Acceptance wants to know when they first found out about Armstrong’s doping and what role, if any, they played in the cover-up.
The trial is slated for next April.
In the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency’s report on the Armstrong case last fall, at least three of his former teammates testified that Kristin Armstrong knew about the doping practices on the team and gave riders cortisone pills wrapped in foil.
Armstrong’s attorneys have rejected Judge Sulak’s order, saying Armstrong has already admitted to doping — which he did so in an interview with Oprah Winfrey in January — and that Acceptance is engaged in a “harassing, malicious … fishing expedition” intended to “make a spectacle of Armstrong’s doping.”
Armstrong’s confession lacked many details and he has refused to testify under oath.
Acceptance is also trying to figure out if Armstrong made payments to anyone — including the UCI, and/or Verbruggen and McQuaid — to keep his doping activities quiet.
There are several pending lawsuits against Armstrong stemming from his doping and subsequent confession.