Former professional cyclist Floyd Landis has the opportunity to avoid jail time after lying about his use of anabolic steroids and performance-enhancing drugs (PEDs). Landis was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title after he tested positive for the anabolic steroid testosterone. Landis initially denied using steroids; he solicited money from donors to help pay for his legal defense against the charges. But Landis later admitted using a wide variety of PEDs, including steroids, during his career.
Assistant United States Attorneys Phillip Halpern and Peter Mazza charged Landis with one count of wire fraud for soliciting donations under “false or fraudulent pretenses, representations or promises”. The criminal charges arose from Landis’ creation of a legal defense fund to help fight the Tour de France doping charges.
Landis was arraigned in United States District Court in San Diego before Judge Jan M. Adler on August 24, 2012. Under the terms of a deferred prosecution agreement, Landis will have the opportunity to avoid a sentence of up to 20 years in prison, a fine of $250,000 and mandatory restitution of all the victims (i.e. donors to the Floyd Fairness Fund).
Landis must repay 1,500 donors, who donated $478,354 to his legal defense fund within three years. If he successfully completes the terms of the deferred prosecution agreement, all charges against him will be dismissed.
“I’m glad to have a concrete procedure for repayment in place,” said Landis in an interview with ESPN. “For me, taking the step of making restitution to the donors who were misled back then is one more step in righting the wrong choices I made and allows me to turn the page and to focus on what’s next in life for me.”
Landis spent close to $2 million dollars, including his personal savings, refuting the accuracy of the testosterone-epitestosterone (T:E) ratio and carbon isotope ration (CIR) tests used by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) as proof that Landis used synthetic testosterone. He took his case all the way to the Court for Arbitration in Sport (CAS). The CAS ruled against Landis.
Landis hasn’t necessarily backed away from claims that the specific anti-doping tests used against him in the 2006 Tour were flawed since he lost his appeal before the CAS. However, in recent years, Landis did otherwise admit using erythropoietin (EPO), human growth hormone (hGH) and anabolic steroids in order to enhance cycling performance and recovery during his career.
Landis also accused his former team (i.e. United States Postal Service pro cycling team) and teammates (i.e. Lance Armstrong) of administering and participating in an organized and systematic doping program. Some teammates have corroborated the allegations (e.g. Tyler Hamilton) while others have refuted them (e.g. Lance Armstrong).
Source:
Ford, B. (August 23, 2012). Floyd Landis must reimburse donors. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/olympics/cycling/story/_/id/8297769/floyd-landis-avoid-jail-donors-get-reimbursed
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