Lance Armstrong will pay federal government $5 million to settle fraud claims

(Image credit: George Burns/Oprah Winfrey Network via Getty Images)

last updated 20 April 2018

Former professional cyclist Lance Armstrong has agreed to pay the federal government $5 million to settle fraud allegations, averting up to $100 million in penalties.

The U.S. Postal Service, which once sponsored Armstrong's team, argued that Armstrong defrauded taxpayers by accepting money while using performance-enhancing drugs, NPR reports. In a statement, the disgraced cyclist said he was ready to "move forward with my life." Chad Reader, acting attorney general for the Justice Department's civil division, said the settlement "demonstrates that those who cheat the government will be held accountable."

Armstrong admitted in 2013 that he did use performance-enhancing drugs, and he was stripped of his Tour de France wins and banned from competition for life. His former teammate, Floyd Landis, sued Armstrong in 2010 under the False Claims Act, and federal prosecutors joined his suit in 2013 on behalf of the USPS. As part of the settlement, Landis, who also admitted to doping, will receive about $1.1 million.

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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.

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