Lance Armstrong was sued by the federal government, saying he was “unjustly enriched” while cheating to win. (Getty Images)

The U.S. Justice Department sued former cyclist Lance Armstrong on Tuesday, saying that he was “unjustly enriched” while cheating to win the Tour de France, according to a report by the Associated Press. 

Tuesday was the final day for the Justice Department to file its formal complaint against Armstrong.

Armstrong’s former team, the U.S. Postal Service, made at least $139 million in worldwide brand exposure in four years, from 2001-2004. Armstrong won seven straight Tour de France titles before being stripped of those wins in light of admitting to using performance-enhancing drugs.

From the Associated Press:

The Postal Service paid about $40 million to be the title sponsor of Armstrong’s teams for six of his seven Tour de France victories. The filing says the USPS paid Armstrong $17 million form 1998-2004.

The lawsuit also names former team Armstrong team director Johan Bruyneel and team management company Tailwind Sports as defendants.

The financial costs for Armstrong and Bruyneel could be high. The government said it would seek triple damages assessed by the jury.

“Defendants were unjustly enriched to the extent of the payments and other benefits they received from the USPS, either directly or indirectly,” the complaint said.

Lance Armstrong’s wealth could be in danger in the face of several lawsuits based on his confession of doping during Tour de France wins. (Getty Images)

Lance Armstrong’s confession of doping and using performance-enhancing drugs has brought on another lawsuit. The insurance company that paid him $3 million in bonuses for his first three Tour de France victories is suing Armstrong for fraud, according to Juliet Macur of The New York Times.

Acceptance Insurance Company sued Armstrong and Tailwind Sports Corp., his former team’s management company, in a Travis County court in Austin, Tex. on Thursday, claiming that Armstrong’s lies about doping in those Tour wins voided the policy and resulted in fraud.

The report adds that the fortune Armstrong amassed during his cycling and marketing career may take another big hit.

Though Armstrong’s estimated worth is about $125 million, his fortune appears to be in jeopardy, with potential legal payouts in excess of $106 million. The greatest threat to his bank account is a federal whistle-blower lawsuit unsealed last week in Washington.

Last week, the Justice Department joined a lawsuit against Armstrong that alleges he defrauded his longtime sponsor, the U.S. Postal Service.

In whistle-blower cases, plaintiffs could be awarded triple damages, which could mean Armstrong could owe the government about $90 million if he loses. Johan Bruyneel, his former team manager, and Tailwind Sports are also defendants.

Armstrong has also been sued by another insurance company that paid him $12.1 million in bonuses for winning several Tours. A British newspaper is also suing Armstrong to repay the $1.5 million it awarded him after he won a libel suit years ago.

Lance Armstrong was given two more weeks to come forward and talk to USADA about doping. (Garbriel Bouys/Getty Images)

The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency gave former cyclist Lance Armstrong two more weeks to come forward and tell all that he knows about doping in cycling in hopes of saving his career, Velonews.com reports.

USADA had set Wednesday as a deadline for Armstrong to cooperate with the agency if he ever hopes of reversing a lifetime ban that was given to him amid a report detailing Armstrong’s systematic use of performance-enhancing drugs that lifted him to seven Tour de France victories.

“We have been in communication with Mr. Armstrong and his representatives and we understand that he does want to be part of the solution and assist in the effort to clean up the sport of cycling,” said USADA CEO Travis Tygart in a statement. “We have agreed to his request for an additional two weeks to work on details to hopefully allow for this to happen.”

Tygart contends that Armstrong lied during his high-profile interview with Oprah Winfrey last month. Tygart says that Armstrong did not race free of performance-enhancing drugs during his 2009 and 2010 comeback and that his representatives offered USADA a $250,000 “donation.”

Lance Armstrong is refusing to pay back bonuses for winning the Tour de France. (Tom Pennington, Getty Images)

Lance Armstrong is refusing to refund the nearly $12 million of bonus money he received for winning the Tour de France in 2002, 2003, and 2004, according to a USA Today report.

Tailwind Sports, the owner of Armstong’s cycling team, had bonuses built into their contract with Armstrong that paid the cyclist extra for winning the Tour de France. However, in 2004 the company withheld the bonus thanks to suspicions that Armstrong doped in order to win the titles. After a lengthy court battle in which Armstrong testified under oath that he never took performance-enhancing drugs, the company paid Armstrong his bonus.

Now, after Armstrong publicly admitted to doping in all seven of his Tour de France victories, Tailwind plans to file a lawsuit to get the money back. Along with legal fees, the company is demanding is around $12.5 million in total, according to the report.

“My only point is no athlete ever, to my understanding, has ever gone back and paid back his compensation,” Armstong’s lawyer Tim Herman told USA Today. “Not (New Orleans Saints coach) Sean Payton or anybody else. They were suspended, but nobody said you’ve got to give your paycheck back.”

Admitted steroid user Lance Armstrong said in an interview with cyclingnews.com’s Daniel Benson that the sport needs to look for a broad solution to deal with doping.

Armstrong thinks that for the sport to move forward, a Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) is “the only way. As much as I’m the eye of the storm this is not about one man, one team, one director. This is about cycling and to be frank it’s about ALL endurance sports. Publicly lynching one man and his team will not solve this problem.”

In Armstrong’s version of the TRC, cyclists would be called to testify with full amnesty.

Later in the interview, Armstrong said that cyclists have been looking for an edge for years.

CN: Do you feel like you’re the fall guy for an entire sport/system?

Armstrong: Actually, yes I do. But I understand why. We all make the beds we sleep in.

CN: When you came into the sport, it probably wasn’t to dope, it wasn’t to cheat but at what point, specifically, did you realize that was how cycling worked and that the governing body weren’t dealing with the situation?

Armstrong: My generation was no different than any other. The ‘help’ has evolved over the years but the fact remains that our sport is damn hard, the Tour was invented as a ‘stunt, and very tough mother f**kers have competed for a century and all looked for advantages. From hopping on trains a 100 years ago to EPO now. No generation was exempt or ‘clean’. Not Merckx’s, not Hinault’s, not LeMond’s, not Coppi’s, not Gimondi’s, not Indurain’s, not Anquetil’s, not Bartali’s, and not mine.

Bradley Wiggins trails Lance Armstrong at the 2009 Tour de France. Wiggins believes Armstrong doped during his comeback. (Jasper Juinen/Getty Images Sport)

Reigning Tour de France champion Bradley Wiggins said he believes Lance Armstrong doped during his comeback to cycling, something Armstrong denied to Oprah during their televised interview, Wiggins told Cycling Weekly’s Nick Bull.

“That was the thing that upset me the most about 2009 and 2010. I thought, you lying bastard,” Wiggins said. “I can still remember going toe-to-toe with him, watching him and his body language. The man I saw at the top of Verbier in 2009 to the man I saw on the top of Ventoux two weeks later, it wasn’t the same bike rider. Watch the videos and see the way the guy was riding. I just don’t believe anything that comes out of his mouth anymore.”

Armstrong finished third that year, keeping Wiggins — who finished fourth — off the podium.

During his interview with Oprah,  Armstrong admitted to doping during his seven straight Tour de France victories. Wiggins says he didn’t plan to watch the interview but ultimately decided to watch it with his  son.

“Part of me didn’t want to watch it, the fan in me didn’t really want that perception of him to be broken as an amazing athlete. But I watched it with my seven-year-old son, and those initial first questions – the yes/no answers – watching him suddenly cave in after all these years of lying so convincingly… there was a lot of anger, a lot of sadness… I was slightly emotional as well if I’m honest. It was difficult to watch really. My wife couldn’t watch it, she walked out the room.

“It’s heartbreaking for the sport, but then the anger kicks in and you start thinking “you f*****g a******e” or whatever feelings most people had when watching it. I had to explain to my son what it’s all about, he’s won the same race as his dad has won. But by the end of the hour-and-a-half, I had the best feeling in the world.

“When he started welling up about his 13-year-old son asking him what it’s all about – I never have to have that conversation with my own son. His father’s won the Tour clean; there’s this element of being smug about the whole thing to be honest. Then I got a ‘you deserve everything you get’ kind of thing. By the end, I was feeling no sympathy for him behind all the welling up and the tears.”

Lance Armstrong was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles in October. (Tom Pennington/Getty Images)

Lance Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles for doping in October, has told associates and antidoping officials that he is considering publicly admitting that he used banned performance-enhancing drugs and blood transfusions during his cycling career, according to several people with direct knowledge of the situation, as reported by Juliet Macur of The New York Times.

Armstrong’s motives for making a public admission include regaining his eligibility to compete in triathlons and running events, and pressure from wealthy supporters of Livestrong to protect his charity from further damage, one person with knowledge of the situation said.

Armstrong, 41, reportedly has been in discussions with the United States Anti-Doping Agency and its chief executive, Travis Tygart, to lift the lifetime ban, according to one person briefed on the situation.

Armstrong is also seeking to meet with David Howman, the director general of the World Anti-Doping Agency, that person said.

When asked if Armstrong might admit to doping, Tim Herman, Armstrong’s longtime lawyer, said: “I do not know about that. I suppose anything is possible, for sure. Right now, that’s really not on the table.”

Herman reportedly denied that Armstrong was talking to Tygart.

Armstrong has long denied allegations of doping and fought investigative efforts, but hundreds of pages of eyewitness testimony, correspondence and financial records presented by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency led to the International Cycling Union and the Tour de France stripping him of his seven titles and his being banned from Olympic competitions.

Tufts University rescinded its honorary degree it conferred to Lance Armstrong for a 2006 commencement speech. (AFP/Getty Images)

Suffice to say that 2012 is not Lance Armstrong’s greatest year. The rescinding and distancing continues. Tufts University is the latest entity to separate itself from the world-famous cyclist who had his seven Tour de France titles stripped in October.

According to a report Wednesday from The Boston Globe, the Board of Trustees at Tufts University unanimously voted to rescind the honorary degrees that Armstrong received from the school for giving the ceremonial graduation commencement speech in 2006. Kimberly Thurler, the director of public relations for the school said that as a result of allegations made towards Armstrong, which have subsequently proven to be true, the school believes that Armstrong is no longer a good representation of the kind of values associated with Tufts:

“While continuing to respect the significant work of the Lance Armstrong Foundation, the board concluded that, in the wake of the recent report of the United States Anti-Doping Agency and its acceptance by the International Cycling Union, Mr. Armstrong’s actions as an athlete are inconsistent with the values of the University.”

Earlier in November, Armstrong’s name had been removed from any association with Livestrong, the cancer-research foundation he once popularized with global recognition. Armstrong had also stepped down from the charity’s board of directors and as chairman of the foundation. Nike had also dropped him in the wake of the evidence that supported those allegations.

At the 2006 commencement speech, Armstrong, who was conferred a doctorate degree for speaking to the University, said he found it incredibly ironic that he’s now a doctor considering he never finished high school:

“For a guy who barely made it out of high school, I find it incredibly ironic that I am standing up here as a doctor. I would just ask that somebody send the photos to the principal at Plano East Senior High and let them know that I, in fact, graduated from Tufts and he has to call me Dr. Armstrong now.”

A U.S. Anti-Doping Agency report accuses Lance Armstrong of perjury. (AFP/Getty Images)

Lance Armstrong could encounter more legal issues stemming from the evidence presented in the United States Anti-Doping Agency report released Wednesday, according to The New York Times.

The USADA report, which accused the seven-time Tour de France winner of leading an illegal doping program with his cycling teammates, also implicates Armstrong for lying under oath during hearings and an arbitration process for an insurance settlement with SCA Promotions of Dallas. The United States Postal Service contracted with SCA for a policy covering Armstrong’s $5 million performance bonus for winning the 2004 Tour de France.

SCA refused to pay the bonus after a French book published details and allegations of Armstrong doping in 2004. The insurer eventually settled to pay the bonus, plus $2.5 million in interest and Armstrong’s legal fees after arbitration.

At the time, Armstrong attacked SCA and its founder, Bob Hamman, as well as witnesses, including some members of the cycling community, who testified for the company.

On Friday, Jeffrey M. Tillotson, a lawyer in Dallas who represents SCA, said his client would attempt to regain the $7.5 million plus interest.

“He basically said that we were scum and how dare we criticize him,” Tillotson said. “So there is some measure of relief that we can now say that he didn’t get away with it forever and, by the way, ‘You owe us $7.5 million.’ ”

An attorney for Armstrong, Timothy J. Herman, said the terms of the 2006 settlement prevent SCA from reopening the case.

“The full and final release that SCA signed put this to bed long ago,” Herman wrote in an e-mail message. “SCA agreed it could never challenge or appeal the award anyway or anyhow — ever.”

Tillotson said Armstrong’s lies, as outlined in the agency’s report, had changed the understanding that was reached through arbitration.

The USADA’s report could also give U.S. attorneys reason to reopen a two-year federal investigation closed in February.

André Birotte Jr., the United States attorney for the Central District of California, announced in February that he had closed an investigation into Armstrong. He gave no reason for ending the inquiry, which had lasted nearly two years.

An inquiry by the Department of Justice, however, is believed to be continuing.

Jose Canseco downplays the benefits of steroids. (Kevork Djansezian/Getty Images)

If any athlete knows steroids, it’s Jose Canseco. In his VICE column, the former major league slugger and steroid confession author manages to tie-in his perspective on the Lance Armstrong illegal doping controversy using his twin brother, Ozzie, and the benefits of being a vampire.

I’ve said this before and I’ll say it a million times if I have to: Steroids and other supplements don’t make you a super athlete. I have proof: my identical twin brother, Ozzie. Genetically… He used the same type of steroids I used and in equal amounts, and we followed the same workout routine and diet. So why was he just an average player?.. I think it’s so hypocritical when athletes are found to be using steroids, the media frames it like they’d be nothing without the juice.

Canseco, who now regrets writing his steroids tell-all book, “Juiced,”  makes the segue from inorganic steroids to inorganic lives including his envy of vampires and their ability to live forever.

Nothing organic lives forever. It’s an impossibility. But, given the opportunity, I’d definitely want to live for hundreds of years. Who the hell wants to die? I’m a huge sci-fan fan, and I love vampire movies. One thing I never understood is why anyone wouldn’t want to be bitten by a vampire. It’s like, what the —-? Are you kidding me? I’d become a vampire in a heartbeat. They’re immortal, they can fly, and they can time-travel… what’s so bad about wanting to become one? What’s the worst thing that can happen? You have to eat a few people now and then? That’s not so bad. The only downfall I can think of is that you’d outlive your children, but, of course, you’d do your best to make sure they became immortal vampires too.

During an appearance on the new Gavin Newsom late night talk show, legendary cyclist Lance Armstrong said that he has passed over 500 drug tests and that he is done answering questions about the use of performance enhancing drugs.

“I’m not wasting any more of my time talking about it and you shouldn’t waste your time talking about it. Let’s move on.”

The 40-year-old won seven consecutive Tour De France titles from 1999-2005.

A French court has convicted embattled cyclist Floyd Landis for his reported role in hacking a French doping lab’s computers, the Winnipeg Free Press reports.

Landis, who in 2006 was stripped of his Tour de France title, has been served a 12-month suspended prison sentence for his role in the plot to hack into the WADA-accredited lab. The 36-year-old retired rider was charged with hacking into the lab’s computer system in an attempt to obtain documents to clear the fallen cyclist’s name.

The lab, located in the town of Chatena-Malabry, was specifically targeted because it was the one that uncovered Landis’ reportedly raised level of testosterone which disqualified him after winning the 2006 Tour de France.

In September of 2007, Landis was found guilty of doping and was banned from the sport of cycling for two years.