New Detection Method Could Have Caught Lance Armstrong

There are several articles on Fraudbytes discussing doping in professional sports, but is there a way to stop doping? A recent article on road.cc discusses research that claims it could have caught Lance Armstrong. The current methods for detecting drugs in an athlete’s system are extremely sophisticated (i.e., if there was a drop of drugs in an Olympic sized pool, they would detect that drop). However, they are only able to detect the drug if it was used in the last 48 hours. According to Yannis Pitsiladis, a professor of sport and exercise science with a particular interest in genetics, his new method can detect if the athlete has doped in the past several months and, potentially, even years.

Doping and Match Fixing: Has Tennis Crossed the Line?

News of professional tennis player Maria Sharapova failing a drug test at the Australian Open has spread rapidly, especially since tennis is generally considered a more sophisticated sport, and people don’t usually think of tennis players when they think about athletes that are doping (see the video below of the press conference where Sharapova made the announcement). While Sharapova says that the drug she was taking was a medicine given to her for health reasons that was only just recently banned by WADA (World Anti-Doping Agency), she still takes responsibility for taking it after it became a banned substance. Additionally, this situation has brought to light other instances of potential fraud in professional tennis, including doping and fixing matches.

The Hospital Room Incident: Did Lance Armstrong Pay Off Doctors to Remain Silent?

While it has been several months since we posted about the Lance Armstrong investigation (see this link for previous posts), the case against Armstrong continues to grow. A recent article in the Daily Camera discusses what is known as “The Hospital Room Incident.” This article discusses why the U.S. Government subpoenaed his medical records from the Indiana University School of Medicine. Allegations are that Armstrong paid off his doctor to remain silent through a donation to his medical school.

Lance Armstrong Investigation: I can't believe it's come to this....

Here we are, nearly three and a half years after Floyd Landis's first confession came out and I posted that I was 99.9% confident that pro cyclists had been doping for the past 15-20 years. I ended that first post by saying "Sadly, what would be surprising to me is if someone who is dominating pro cycling such as Alberto Contador was actually not doping!" Of course, soon after that, Alberto failed a doping test in the Tour de France and was suspended from racing.

Since that first post, there have been many posts to follow (this makes number 150 with the label of Lance Armstrong Investigation) and

The Real Winners in the Lance Armstrong Investigation: His Attorneys

Photo taken from Forbes.com

In most fraud cases, the real winners are the attorneys. This is definitely looking to be the case  with Lance Armstrong since he is getting sued left and right these days. Not only has the US Justice Department joined in Floyd Landis's suit claiming Lance defrauded the US Postal Service but numerous other lawsuits and legal actions are being filed daily. While the suit by the US Postal Service could, in theory, add up to over $100 million, these other suits could also add up to real money too, especially when you consider all the legal fees his attorneys must be charging him. For example, I learned about the following two new lawsuits today...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Fed to Join Landis in Suing Lance, Weisel and Stapleton

This is hot off the press and, from what I can tell, was first published by the Wall Street Journal. Amidst speculation in the past few days that the Department of Justice was not going to join in the whistleblower lawsuit filed by Floyd Landis, the WSJ is saying they are going to join in. This is bad news for Lance, Thom Weisel and Bill Stapleton since Lance has now stated publicly that he was doping. On the other hand, this is good news for Floyd Landis who could end up a multi-millionaire as a result of this lawsuit. Here are some key fraudbytes from the WSJ article:

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Criminal Charges May Be in the Works

According to CBS News, federal investigators are considering criminal charges against Lance Armstrong. The main charges being considered are obstruction of justice, intimidation and witness tampering. I'd say intimidation is his specialty but the others are right up his alley too.

This investigation comes after the original criminal investigation was suddenly dropped a year ago by the now, infamous, Andre Birotte. Birotte had a few words about his investigation saying that he basically stands by his decision to drop it.

Here are some excerpts from CBS News:

My Analysis of the Lance Armstrong-Oprah Winfrey Interview

Photo taken from WSJ.com

I was traveling last night and was unable to watch the interview last night but I read some articles on what happened in Lance Armstrong's interview by Oprah Winfrey including one that gives all his responses on the Wall Street Journal. It's interesting reading for sure. Here are some thoughts:

Feds Joining Suit Against Lance Armstrong

CBS News reported yesterday that the federal government is considering joining in Floyd Landis's lawsuit against Lance Armstrong which alleges that he defrauded the government due to his doping while receiving $30 million in sponsorship funds from the US Postal Service. My understanding is that the government could receive treble damages for this lawsuit which would amount to $90 million. Lance would not be the only one to be hurt by this.

A tweet this afternoon by CBS News says that they have learned that Lance offered to settle with the government for $5 million and that he offered to be a cooperating witness in a federal investigation. The tweet claims that the Department of Justice turned down both offers.

If this is true, it suggests that the federal government will be joining in the lawsuit against Lance and they expect to go for significantly more than $5 million. The saga continues...

WADA Says Lance is not in Charge!

Just when Lance Armstrong probably was hoping he could show he is cooperating with USADA and WADA to get them to cut him some slack, WADA let's him know that he isn't in charge! Check it out at SportsIllustrated.com. Here is the heart of it:

Will Lance's Confession be Anticlimactic?

I've been thinking that saying Lance's confession will be anticlimactic will be a major understatement. I had decided that I won't even try to watch it come out live because it seems like a waste of time. However, yesterday, the NY Times published an article suggesting that Lance Armstrong's confession may be interesting in that it could involve testifying against many top-level officials in cycling such as Hein Verbruggen and Pat McQuaid of the UCI and Lance's former partner at Tailwind Sports, Thom Weisel. Here are some key excerpts from the Times article:

Questions for Oprah to Ask Lance

We've all been hearing that Lance Armstrong is set to finally admit to doping and he has picked Oprah Winfrey to interview him when he admits it. NY Daily News published an article with questions that Betsy Andreu would like Oprah Winfrey to ask Lance Armstrong when Oprah interviews him at his Austin mansion on Monday. Betsy has some doozies that Oprah is sure to never ask. You can bet that if there was even a chance that Oprah would ask some of these questions, Lance would never agree to be interviewed by her. Here are Betsy's questions followed by two of my own...

Lance May Admit He Doped

If this report is accurate, I will have to eat my words. I never thought Lance Armstrong would be able to do a complete 180 and admit to doping.  I even predicted he would go to his grave denying. However, according to the NY Times, he is considering confessing. Why would he do this now you ask? Here is what a Sports Illustrated blog has to say...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Lance and Landis Competing Again

The competition between Lance Armstrong and Floyd Landis isn't in the French Alps but, instead, may be in a U.S. federal court room. The Wall Street Journal reported today that Lance's troubles with Landis and the Department of Justice are still ongoing. Floyd was astute enough to file a whistleblower lawsuit against Lance under the Federal False Claims Act which allows whistleblowers to collect up to 30% of any recovery by the Federal Government if the government sues an individual for defrauding them. When Lance was sponsored by the U.S. Postal Service he was prohibited from doping by his contract with the USPS. Unfortunately for him, just when Lance probably would like to pay his last legal bill, it sounds like he may be supporting his all-star legal team for some years to come. Here's what the Wall Street Journal has to say about it...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Anti-Sportsman of the Year

Today, Sports Illustrated published something that makes me conclude that the world has clearly come to grips with the corruption and cheating in pro cycling that existed for the past several decades. If you haven't seen it yet, you should check out this Sports Illustrated link where they awarded Lance as the "Anti-Sportsman of the Year." To my knowledge, this award has been created just for Lance. Well, I guess Lance can add that to his list of accomplishments. (If I'm wrong about this, please let me know but I don't think SI has ever given such an award before.)

Livestrong, Lance Armstrong and the IRS

Forbes published an article yesterday that discusses the distinct possibility that LiveStrong may be in trouble with the IRS. As it turns out, non-profit organizations are prohibited by law from exerting political influence. In addition, if reports are true that Lance has often taken a cut of the funds that donors thought they were giving to Livestrong, the IRS certainly will want to know more about that behavior too. Here are some excerpts from the Forbes article:

Lance, Livestrong and the UCI

Numerous reports are flooding the internet that the UCI has sustained USADA's decision to strip Lance Armstrong of his seven Tour de France titles making Greg LeMond the only American to ever win the Tour de France. Of course, this comes as no surprise to those who were aware of the plethora of evidence showing Lance to be the biggest sporting fraud in history; the Bernie Madoff of sport.

Last week we read of Livestrong donors asking for their money back. My wife says that given today's news we should be reading soon about Lance wanting his donations to the UCI back too...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Was LiveStrong Built on the Back of a Fraud?

As I mentioned in the last post, I've been contacted by some LiveStrong donors who want their money back because they believe they donated under false pretenses. You can read about two of these donors on CNN. Here are a few bytes:

Lance Armstrong's Kingdom is Crumbling

 Update: since publishing this post this morning, several other sponsors have dropped Lance Armstrong. This article in The Wall Street Journal lists a bunch...

A few days ago, I received an email from a person who explained that, in 2000, she and her husband had donated $50,000 to the Lance Armstrong Foundation, now LiveStrong. A few years later she initiated a fundraiser that hosted Lance and collected $155,000. She explained that "With the news of Lance's deception, we feel cheated and also resentful that we were used to unknowingly continue the fraud." She said they believe there may be grounds for a class action lawsuit and wondered if there are any attorneys working on LiveStrong litigation due to Lance's fraud. (I'm still trying to find out so please email me if you have information on this.) Today's news reports indicate that this sad story is not an isolated case and that Lance's kingdom is quickly crumbling...

Lance Armstrong Investigation: Signs of Corporate Corruption

Lance Armstrong has now officially earned the title as the Bernie Madoff of sporting fraud. To fraudulently orchestrate an operation that led to winning the Tour de France seven times in a row all the while running a sophisticated doping operation for himself and his teammates is no small feat. Just as Bernie Madoff could never run a $50 billion Ponzi scheme on his own, Lance needed a lot of players to go along with it. Recent news reports are now suggesting that Lance had help from corporate sponsors to pull off this tragic deception...