Lance Armstrong still facing $100million lawsuit

Lance Armstrong's lawyers fail to get Floyd Landis's $100million whistleblower lawsuit dismissed

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Lance Armstrong is still facing a $100million whistleblower doping lawsuit after his lawyers failed to get the case dismissed by a United States federal judge on Thursday.

The lawsuit was brought against Armstrong by former team-mate Floyd Landis and the US Government, who accuse the Texan of defrauding the government by playing a leading role in the use of banned performance-enhancing drugs on the US Postal Service cycling team.

Landis used the False Claims Act to bring the lawsuit against Armstrong in 2010 on behalf of the government. If successful, Landis could net 25 per cent of any sum recovered – thought to be in excess of $100million.

The lawsuit claims that Armstrong, former manager Johan Bruyneel, team management company Tailwind Sports and other parties knew that Armstrong and team-mates were doping during the period that US Postal Service sponsored the team.

It is thought that just over $40million was paid in sponsorship by US Postal to the team that ran between 1996 and 2004.

Armstrong and his lawyers argue that the case is being brought to court too late, and that US Postal received valuable worldwide exposure as part of their sponsorship.

Armstrong admitted to doping in January 2013 for all seven of his Tour de France wins from 1999 to 2005. He was stripped of all his Tour victories.