Lance Armstrong continues to set records, four years after he retired from cycling and two years after he admitted to doping during his record-breaking cycling career.
USA TODAY Sports reported Monday that a Texas arbitration panel ordered the disgraced athlete to pay a $10 million penalty for lying under oath that he never used performance-enhancing drugs.
According to the report, the penalty is believed to be the largest ever against an individual in American judicial history.
The panel ordered Armstrong to make restitution to SCA Promotions, the Dallas-based insurance company that paid bonuses to Armstrong for winning the Tour de France in 2002 and 2003 but refused to pay for his 2004 bonus over allegations that he was doping.
Government civil suit could leave Lance Armstrong bankrupt
According to Forbes, SCA was to pay Armstrong $5 million for his 2004 win. But evidence started mounting that Armstrong was cheating, leading the SCA to argue that his doping violated the terms of their contract.
Armstrong sued, and the case went to arbitration in 2005. Without any failed drug test or other evidence, SCA was forced to pay $7.5 million to the cyclist.
But Forbes reported that the testimony from the arbitration formed the basis of the successful case that the U.S Anti-Doping Agency brought against Armstrong in 2012. The USADA proved that Armstrong was involved in an elaborate doping program that resulted in his banishment from the sport, vacating all seven of his Tour de France victories, the loss of all his sponsors, his stepping down as chairman of the Livestrong Foundation and an order for him to repay all of his Tour de France winnings.
In January of 2013, Armstrong confessed to Oprah Winfrey that he participated in doping during his cycling career. That prompted the suit by SCA, and in a 2-1 vote, the panel determined that Armstrong repay the insurance company $10 million.
Armstrong's attorney, Tim Herman, is arguing that no court or arbitrator has ever reopened a matter that was previously settled voluntarily, USA TODAY Sports reported.
The dissenting arbitrator, Ted Lyon, wrote a dissenting opinion, saying that no arbitration panel has ever issued a sanction on event that occurred so long ago.
"No arbitration panel in Texas or our nation has ever stretched back so far in time to issue such a sanction," Lyon wrote. "This panel has no authority to sanction Armstrong."
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