The ultimate cost of Lance Armstrong's doping and deception has yet to be determined but it will be high and not just in terms of his reputation. The Sunday Times wants more than $1.5 million from Armstrong relating to a libel settlement in 2006. South Australia wants him to pay back appearance fees. Back home, the U.S. government rejected Armstrong's offer of more than $5 million to make amends for fraud allegedly committed against the U.S. Postal Service, according to CBS.
The U.S. Postal Service paid out $30.9 million to Armstrong's cycling team from 2001-2004, according to documents obtained by ESPN in 2011. Armstrong won four of his seven Tour de France titles during this period. He has since been stripped of all titles after a report by the USADA detailed a long history of doping during his career. According to CBS, Armstrong's offer of $5 million and his cooperation in an investigation to settle up with the government was rebuffed.
WATCH CBS NEWS VIDEO ABOVE
An attorney familiar with Armstrong's legal woes told The Associated Press on Tuesday that the Justice Department was considering joining a whistleblower lawsuit filed against the disgraced cyclist by a former teammate, Floyd Landis. According to that attorney, Amstrong's lawyers met with the Justice Department to determine what funds could be repaid but that parties had yet to agree on an amount.
A former teammate of Armstrong's with the U.S. Postal Service team, Landis has been stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping. He filed a whistleblower lawsuit against Armstrong in 2010 under the Federal False Claims Act, according to the Wall Street Journal. Landis alleges that Armstrong and his team defrauded the government by accepting funds and then using performance-enhancing drugs even though the contract required them not to. Per The Associated Press, the deadline for the Justice Department to join Landis' case is Thursday, which is already set to be a landmark day for Armstrong.
Armstrong's highly publicized interview with Oprah Winfrey has brought renewed urgency to all of these claims against him. During an appearance on "CBS This Morning" on Tuesday, Oprah confirmed earlier reports that Armstrong did confess to PED use during the interview taped on Monday. The first part of the two-part interview will air on Thursday.