Lance Armstrong agreed on Thursday to pay $5 million to settle claims that he defrauded the federal government by using performance-enhancing drugs when the United States Postal Service sponsored his cycling team.
The settlement ended years of legal wrangling between Armstrong and the government over whether the Postal Service had actually sustained harm because of Armstrong’s doping.
Landis, who also doped during his cycling career and was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title, will receive $1.1 million of the government’s $5 million. In addition to the $5 million settlement, Armstrong will pay $1.65 million to cover Landis’s legal costs, according to lawyers for both Landis and Armstrong.
