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U.S. Blocks Settlement Between Lance Armstrong, Ex-Teammate Landis

U.S. Blocks Settlement Between Lance Armstrong, Ex-Teammate Landis

By Michael Doyle, McClatchy Washington Bureau (TNS)

WASHINGTON — Uncle Sam has now further complicated the high-stakes grudge match between disgraced bicyclist Lance Armstrong and his former teammate, Floyd Landis.

In a twist that even a federal judge admitted “might seem unfair,” the Justice Department has succeeded in blocking a settlement totaling $600,000 that Landis reached with Armstrong’s business associates. The department did not explain its objections to settling a case it previously declined to enter.

“Fairly or not, withholding of consent requires no explanation,” U.S. District Judge Christopher R. Cooper wrote in a decision Thursday.

Cooper’s decision is the latest, but not the final, turn of the wheel in the dispute pitting Landis against Armstrong, an Austin, Texas, resident who forfeited his seven Tour de France titles following revelations that he cheated by using banned substances.

Landis, whose own blood-doping eventually caused him to forfeit his 2006 Tour de France title, sued Armstrong and various associates in 2010. Originally filed under seal, Landis’ false-claims lawsuit became public when the Justice Department entered it, in part, in 2013.

The Justice Department joined Landis in targeting Armstrong personally, reasoning that the U.S. Postal Service had been duped when it spent more than $30 million sponsoring Armstrong’s racing team. False Claims Act lawsuits like this can potentially triple the damages owed, with Landis, as the original whistleblower, entitled to a cut.

The Justice Department, though, did not ally itself with the part of Landis’ lawsuit targeting Armstrong’s longtime agent Bill Stapleton, longtime business partner Barton Knaggs, and their Austin-based company, Capital Sports and Entertainment.

Last December, Stapleton and Knaggs agreed to a settlement that would include a $500,000 payment, as well as $100,000 in attorneys fees, to Landis. On February 20, in a brief legal filing, Justice Department attorneys declared they were “not in a position to consent to the settlement at this time.”

Cooper, appointed to the bench by President Barack Obama, said he had little choice but to side with the Justice Department, despite the vexing result.

“While it might seem counterintuitive that the government can effectively veto a settlement of claims it has chosen not to join, the False Claims Act itself and the majority of circuits that have addressed the question say otherwise,” Cooper stated.

Citing a 2000 decision involving a case brought against some Lexington, Kentucky-area health clinics, Cooper added that “the power to veto a privately negotiated settlement of public claims is a critical aspect of the government’s ability to protect the public interest.”

In a legal filing last month, attorneys for Stapleton and Knaggs complained that the Justice Department’s effective veto keeps everyone in a costly “litigation limbo.” Underscoring the work involved, the attorneys noted that “up to 130 depositions” will have to be taken as parties prepare for a possible trial.

“The government impermissibly seeks to replace the (private) settlement with a settlement of its own making, negotiated from a position of absolute power,” wrote the attorneys, Marc S. Harris and John P. Pierce.

Tactically, though, the Justice Department’s move may put pressure on Armstrong to settle on terms more favorable to the government. Previous media reports, citing anonymous sources, have suggested the parties remain millions of dollars apart.

Photo: Tom Raftery via Flickr

Every World Cup Player To Have Drug Test

Every World Cup Player To Have Drug Test

Lausanne (AFP) – FIFA is on an ambitious mission to make sure that for the first time every player who takes part in the World Cup has a drug test and carries a ‘biological passport’.

Football’s governing body wants to impose the passport — already used in cycling and athletics — that will follow a player throughout his career, giving details of blood and urine tests.

Since March, a team of FIFA doctors and nurses have been carrying out random blood and urine tests at internationals and team training camps.

Lionel Messi’s Argentina and France were visited last week at their camps to prepare for the tournament, according to media reports.

Brazilian star Neymar, Italian captain Gianluigi Buffon and Spain’s Andres Iniesta were among those who gave samples at last year’s Confederations Cup.

Chelsea, Barcelona, Santos and Monterrey stars were tested during international club competitions over the past 18 months.

Players can expect a tap on the shoulder right from the first matches of the World Cup which starts June 12.

“We can test anybody, anytime, anywhere, any amount of times,” said Jiri Dvorak, FIFA’s chief medical officer in a recent interview.

So far nothing alarming has turned up, according to Dvorak. “The hematological parameters are normal,” he said.

FIFA is building up a biological passport on all players.

It has taken at least two test samples from most players while some have given up to four.

So far teams have made the doping investigators welcome. “They understand what we are doing and they consider that kind of examination as part of their professional life,” said Dvorak.

The FIFA tests look for discrepancies in haemoglobins and red cells that could indicate EPO doping or other banned efforts to boost endurance. These kinds of tests are already used in cycling and athletics.

Football’s governing body also checks hormone levels and for anabolic steroids in the urine.

The drug testing logistics in Brazil face difficulties, Dvorak acknowledged.

There is no international standard laboratory in Brazil. The World Anti-Doping Agency withdrew its accreditation for the only facility in Rio de Janeiro last year.

FIFA will be sending its samples to a laboratory in Lausanne, Switzerland, which will add $250,000 to the doping clampdown costs.

And as blood samples must be analysed within 36 hours of being drawn, it will be a race against time to get samples from far-flung World Cup cities such as Manaus in the Amazon and Fortaleza.

“It is a challenge,” acknowledged Dvorak.

But transport from stadiums has already been tested.

“There are a few games that are difficult. But the majority of the samples will arrive at the laboratory between 24 and 48 hours,” said Dvorak. The Lausanne laboratory will work 24 hours a day during the World Cup, he added.

“Some of the matches are critical, the critical matches we will look at very carefully,” the medical chief said.

Football has had relatively few declared cases of performance-enhancing doping.

Argentine star Diego Maradona was sent home from the 1994 World Cup after testing positive for the stimulant ephedrine.

Last year there were cases involving internationals from Jamaica, Peru and Tahiti. But FIFA believes the smaller football nations are less aware of the risks involved.

Cannabis and cocaine have made up the majority of drug failures in football in recent years, according to FIFA.com, the world body’s website.

FIFA’s biological passport could spread further than the World Cup though.

A scientific review of the FIFA campaign will be published at the end of the year. If it backs the drug testing, the world body may press the major leagues to start their own regimes.

Photo: Dan Brown via Flickr.com