Lance Armstrong settles lawsuit with SCA Promotions

Dallas-based SCA Promotions first pursued evidence of doping against Armstrong in 2005.

Armstrong settled two related lawsuits with SCA Promotions over claims his doping practices cheated the company out of millions of dollars in bonuses paid for three of his seven Tour de France titles, the promoter said in a statement. In 2006, SCA paid Armstrong $US7.5 million through arbitration to end a dispute over a bonus for winning the 2004 Tour de France after allegations the cyclist cheated. An arbitration panel ruled in February that Armstrong must pay the company $10 million for lying under oath.

SCA sought to reopen the case in June 2013 after Armstrong admitted that he had doped during his racing career. “I am pleased to have this matter behind me, and I look forward to moving on”.

Lance Armstrong at Coronado triathlon in 2012.SCA Promotions of Dallas – whose corporate motto is “Our Risk”. Company officials confirmed the settlement in a statement, but declined to reveal details or comment further.

Armstrong later confessed to doping and has been deluged with litigation ever since, but now has one less legal hill to climb. The federal government is seeking repayment of more than $30 million the U.S. Postal Service paid to sponsor his teams from 1998 to 2004. The Associated Press reports that penalties in this case could reach $100 million.

Armstrong is still a defendant in a $100-million lawsuit whose plaintiffs are the Justice Department and whistleblower Floyd Landis, a teammate who exposed Armstrong’s participation in what anti-doping authorities have called the most sophisticated doping conspiracy of all time. The case is not set for trial until 2016.