Cyclist Lance Armstrong was in federal court in Washington on Wednesday backed by a new team: his lawyers.
The Texan who rode to worldwide glory in seven Tour de France wins, mostly sporting U.S. Postal Service logos, is trying to stop the government from collecting $100 million in damages it says he owes taxpayers for lost promotional value after he admitted to doping.
Armstrong argues that the Postal Service got more than its money’s worth as his sponsor from 2000 to 2004 and was at court as his four attorneys pressed the point, sunglasses folded on the table in front of him, jotting notes and leafing through case exhibits.
The long-running and complicated federal fraud suit involving Armstrong dates to 2000 and has gone through more twists and turns than the Alpine climbs and switchbacks that once established his reputation.
But the point of Wednesday’s two-hour hearing was simple, as the team shielding Armstrong, 45, tried to have most of the lawsuit tossed.
Whatever Armstrong’s moral failings, his attorneys insisted, the government has not shown that those flaws offset tens of millions of dollars in media exposure, new market share and customer revenue that the Postal Service gained by backing him.
The high stakes in play was evident at the courtroom door where the schedule for the case listed 20 lawyers for the various sides present, including Joyce R. Branda, the deputy assistant attorney general in charge of the commercial litigation branch.
Armstrong conceded in 2013 that he had used performance enhancing drugs despite years of strenuous denials in the face of persistent rumors. He was stripped by cycling authorities of the seven Tour de France championships he had won from 1999 through 2005.
The government has asked for triple damages for its $32.3 million sponsorship of Armstrong’s U.S. Postal Service Pro Cycling Team. The government entered the legal fray when it joined a 2010 whistleblower lawsuit brought by Armstrong’s former teammate Floyd Landis….
Full Article: Lance Armstrong’s latest race: Outrunning a $100M U.S. fraud claim in U.S. court – The Washington Post