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The U.S. Government through the Justice Department has labeled disgraced Tour de France winner “unjustly enriched” through his U.S. Postal Service (USPS) sponsorship contract.
The government filed its formal complaint against Armstrong and joined in the lawsuit brought by fellow USPS team member Floyd Landis. The USPS sponsorship gave Armstrong $17 million in direct payments and sponsored his Tour de France teams to the tune of $40 million from 1998-2004.
The U.S. government is not only seeking to be made whole by the money it spent it is also seeking triple the amount in damages. Armstrong’s team director Johnan Bruyneel and bicycling management company Tailwind Sports were also named in the DOJ lawsuit.
Armstrong, who has been banned from sports for life and stripped of his seven Tour de France victories, through his lawyers challenged the government to prove they were damaged by their association with his bicycling team. It is reported that the USPS received over $130 million in brand exposure through the sponsorship.
Armstrong’s reputation and professional bicycling career ended when he finally admitted that he used performance enhancement drugs and illegal blood transfusions in order to win many of his professional bicycling races.
Published in Latino Daily News
2013-04-23 18:15:07