Disgraced American sports icon Lance Armstrong has been ordered by a Texas arbitration panel to pay back $10 million in prize money that he received for winning the Tour de France in 2002, 2003, and 2004, The Dallas Morning News reports.
Armstrong, 43, had earned millions in bonus payments from Dallas-based SCA Promotions for winning the Tour from 2001 to 2003 in a deal with the US Postal Service Team, the AFP notes.
But after admitting on national television to Oprah Winfrey, in January 2013, that he had cheated during his career, SCA went to court to get its money back.
'Perjury must never be profitable'
In a statement on its website, the plaintiff, SCA Promotions Inc., said, "The $10 million award, which must be paid directly to SCA Promotions, is believed to be the largest award of sanctions assessed against an individual in American judicial history."
Bob Hamman, SCA's president and founder, also wrote: "We are very pleased with this result. It is hard to describe how much harm Lance Armstrong's web of lies caused SCA but this is a good first start towards repairing that damage."
The summary of the panel's decision reads, in part [emphasis ours]:
Perjury must never be profitable. Justice in courts of law and arbitration tribunals is impossible when parties feel free to deliberately deceive judges or arbitrators. The case yet again before this Tribunal presents an unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy. It is almost certainly the most devious sustained deception ever perpetrated in world sporting history. Tailwind Sports Corp. and Lance Armstrong have justly earned wide public condemnation. That is an inadequate deterrent. Deception demands real, meaningful sanctions. This Arbitration Tribunal awards sanctions of Ten Million Dollars ($10,000,000.00) against Mr. Lance Armstrong and Tailwind Sports Corporation.
You can read the full court document below.
Once the news hit social media, one journalist quoted lawyers for SCA regarding the decision:
How good do SCA's lawyers feel about the Armstrong win? One just told me: "I don't think Lance can blame his girlfriend for this one!"
— Neal Karlinsky (@NealKarlinsky) February 16, 2015
It's just the latest bad news for the fallen champion, who, before he got busted for doping, won a record seven Tours de France and was considered one of the greatest cyclists of all time.
In December he crashed his SUV into two parked cars in Colorado and left the scene without contacting police. His girlfriend, Anna Hansen, tried to take the blame, telling Aspen police she wanted to keep his name out of national headlines.
In an in-depth interview with the BBC that aired in January, Armstrong said that if he had to go back to his Tour de France days he would probably cheat all over again.
The US Anti-Doping Agency, or USADA, stripped Armstrong of his seven Tour titles in October 2012. In its "Reasoned Decision," USADA said that evidence against Armstrong showed beyond any doubt that the US Postal Service Pro Cycling Team, with Armstrong as its leader, "ran the most sophisticated, professionalized and successful doping program that sport has ever seen."
Armstrong's troubles are far from over. He is also being sued by the federal government and former teammate Floyd Landis in a whistleblower fraud action, the AP notes.
Armstrong's net worth, according to The New York Times, was estimated at $125 million in 2012. In August, Armstrong told Dan Patrick that he still believed he won those seven Tours.
Here's the summary of the decision:
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