The cyclist who once had the court of public opinion convinced that he was drug-free while winning seven Tour de France's now is claiming that his employers knew that he was under investigation and more as a defense.
According to USA TODAY Sports, a federal judge in Washington indicated on Monday that he doesn't think he'll fully dismiss a civil fraud case against former cycling champion Lance Armstrong and several co-defendants.
Judge Robert L. Wilkins also said that he's also likely to refuse Armstrong's request to coordinate the depositions in the civil fraud case with those in four other civil lawsuits against the 38-year-old in various state and federal courts, USA TODAY Sports reported.
Armstrong was hoping to avoid repeated aggressive lines of questioning by prosecutors.
Former Tour-de-France champion Floyd Landis brought a whistle-blower lawsuit against Arrmstrong in 2010 that the federal government joined this year.
USA TODAY Sports adds that defendants include: Armstrong; his management company, Tailwind Sports; and his former team manager, Johan Bruyneel; Tailwind investor Thomas Weisel; Armstrong's agent, Bill Stapleton; and an executive of Stapleton's agency, Barton Knaggs.
The suits are separate but part of the same case in which the U.S. Postal Service is claiming it would not have shelled out $40 million to Armstrong and his team in sponsorship money from 1998 to 2004 had it known the riders to be using performance-enhancing drugs.
According to the article, the statute of limitations in cases like the ones against Armstrong is six years. The government argues that Armstrong's concealment of wrongdoing should extend the statute of limitations. Landis said the statute of limitations should extend longer than that because the U.S. was at war with Afghanistan and in wartime, the government is allowed additional time to pursue fraud charges.
Armstrong lawyer Elliot Peters countered that USPS officials already were aware of doping allegations against Armstrong knew at the time that French officials were investigating Armstrong. He added that the USPS officials "were aware of lots more than that."
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