Lance Armstrong has reportedly offered to pay more than $5 million to the federal government for the fraud that his cycling team allegedly committed against the U.S. Postal Service, which paid $40 million to sponsor his cycling teams.
CBS News, on Tuesday, reported Armstrong was willing to make the payment as the U.S. Justice Department considers whether it will sue Armstrong and owners of Armstrong’s cycling teams for fraud.
.@cbsnews has learned Lance Armstrong has offered to pay more than $5-million for fraud allegedly committed against the US Postal Service.
— Charlie Kaye (@CharlieKayeCBS) January 15, 2013
Armstrong, after denying for years he had doped and testifying under oath that he had never used performance-enhancing drugs, confessed to Oprah Winfrey on Monday in an interview that he doped in order to win Tour de France championships.
The Justice Department has until Thursday, when Winfrey’s interview with Armstrong will first air, to join a whistleblower lawsuit, under the Federal False Claims Act, to get back some of the federal dollars the USPS spent to sponsor Armstrong’s teams.
According to reports, the Postal Service’s team management “promised in its contracts not to tolerate doping.”
Armstrong’s doping admission would leave him–and others in management–open to charges of fraud.
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