Michael Hernandez
14 February 2017•Update: 14 February 2017
By Michael Hernandez
WASHINGTON
A federal lawsuit seeking as much as $100 million will be allowed to proceed after a judge rejected Lance Armstrong's request to throw it out on Monday.
"Because the government has offered evidence that Armstrong withheld information about the team’s doping and use of PEDs and that the anti-doping provisions of the sponsorship agreements were material to USPS’s decision to continue the sponsorship and make payments under the agreements, the Court must deny Armstrong’s motion for summary judgment on this issue," U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper wrote.
The federal government is suing Armstrong on behalf of the U.S. Postal Service (USPS) whose team Armstrong rode for before he was forced out of cycling amid a doping scandal.
Armstrong acknowledged in 2013 that he used blood transfusions and banned performance enhancing substances (PEDs) to win his seven Tour de France titles.
The federal government is seeking the $32.3 million in sponsorship money it paid to Armstrong's team from 2000 to 2004. The money could be tripled to just shy of $100 million under the False Claims Act.
Armstrong argued that the funds paid by the postal service were far surpassed by the economic benefits it allegedly reaped as a result of its sponsorship.
The case will now move to a jury trial where damages will be decided.
