Armstrong hit with record $10m bill after losing doping lawsuit
DISGRACED cyclist Lance Armstrong has been ordered to pay an American record $10m (£6.5m) in damages after losing a lawsuit with sports insurance company SCA Promotions.
The Texan firm paid Armstrong $7.5m (£4.9m) in bonuses for his multiple Tour de France wins but sued him for the return of that sum plus $4.5m (£2.9m) in legal fees after his systematic doping was exposed.
SCA said: “According to the arbitrators’ written ruling, the sanctions award punishes Armstrong for ‘an unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy’.
“The award, which must be paid directly to SCA, is believed to be the largest award of sanctions assessed against an individual in American judicial history.”
It is the latest blow to Armstrong, 43, who is fighting another lawsuit from federal government that could cost him a further $100m (£65m).
Two years ago he finally confessed to using a cocktail of banned performance-enhancing substances throughout a career that brought him seven Tour de France titles – all since rescinded.
That followed the US Anti-Doping Agency’s guilty verdict months earlier, following years of investigations, allegations and vehement denials from the Texan former cancer sufferer.
Armstrong reached an undisclosed settlement with another insurance company, Acceptance, in 2013 after it sued him for $3m (£2m).