By Dan Burns
Feb 7 (Reuters) - Disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong on
Thursday was sued by a company that paid him about $12 million
for three of his seven Tour de France wins that have since been
stripped from him for his use of banned drugs.
SCA Promotions Inc, in a suit filed in Texas state court in
Dallas, alleges Armstrong and his management company, Tailwind
Sports, defrauded SCA into paying Armstrong $12.1 million in
bonuses and interest for his 2002, 2003 and 2004 Tour de France
wins by lying about Armstrong's use of performance-enhancing
drugs during those events.
Last month, Armstrong ended years of vehement denial and
admitted in a televised interview with Oprah Winfrey that he had
cheated his way to a record seven Tour de France titles through
the use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs.
Armstrong has been banned from cycling for life and stripped
of race wins, including all of his Tour de France victories.
"Lance Armstrong cheated to win all of his Tour de France
victories," SCA Chief Executive Officer Robert Hamman said in a
statement. "He has admitted as much on national TV."
"As a result of Lance Armstrong's unjustly achieved
victories and related activities, SCA paid $12,120,000 to
Tailwind Sports Inc," Hamman said. "SCA also suffered
reputational damage and substantial loss of business."
This will not be the first court battle between Armstrong
and the Texas-based company, and the cyclist's attorneys said
the latest suit has no merit.
Due to doping allegations at the time, SCA initially refused
to pay Armstrong $5 million in bonus money that Tailwind Sports,
the owner of Armstrong's U.S. Postal team, had promised him if
he won a sixth Tour title in 2004. Tailwind Sports took out
insurance coverage with SCA.
But SCA was ordered to pay up after Armstrong took the
company to court, swearing under oath that he was a clean rider
who won fairly.
SCA paid the $5 million performance bonus, plus $2.5 million
in interest and attorney fees, as part of a 2006 legal
settlement.
That agreement's "plain words bars SCA from ever revisiting
the settlement it entered into in 2006," Armstrong attorney Mark
Fabiani said in an email on Thursday.
Armstrong also faces a civil whistleblower lawsuit accusing
him of fraud. That suit was filed by former teammate Floyd
Landis and the U.S. Justice Department has not said whether it
intends to join the suit.
Also, last month two California men sued Armstrong and his
book publishers for fraud and false advertising, claiming his
best-selling memoirs, billed as non-fiction, were revealed to be
filled with lies after his confession to systematic doping.
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