The controversial doctor who was at the centre of Lance Armstrong and US Postal’s systematic doping has been given a suspended prison sentence by an Italian court.

Michele Ferrari was handed an 18-month suspended sentence for his part in a doping scandal involving Italian biathlete Daniel Taschler.

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Ferrari and Taschler both faced charges of doping and sport fraud in the case in Bolzano, which came after Gazzetto dello Sport published details of a phone call in 2010 where Ferrari gave Taschler instructions of how to use performance enhancing drugs.

Taschler was also given a nine-month suspended sentence while his father, Gottlieb Taschler, a former vice president of the International Biathlon Union, was given a 12-month suspended sentence.

Ferrari was also given a €4,500 fine, and has had his medical licence suspended for 18 months.

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Ferrari has been a controversial name in cycling and a number of other sports since the mid-1990s, having been involved with Armstrong’s US Postal team for a number of years up to October 2004, when he was sent to prison for a year for sporting fraud following testimony from professional cyclist Filippo Simeoni who said that Ferrari had advised him on how to use EPO and testosterone.

Following the USADA investigation into Lance Armstrong, Ferrari was given a lifetime ban from professional sport in July 2012, with Armstrong later admitting that Ferrari has supplied him with performance enhancing drugs during his time at US Postal.