The Rupert Murdoch owned British newspaper, The Sunday Times, is suing famous bicycle champion Lance Armstrong for nearly one million pounds, which adds up to $1.6 million, after the newspaper paid Armstrong 300,000 pounds in a previous libel case.
According to the report, The Sunday Times, printed a story indicating that Armstrong took performance enhancing drugs, a claim which Armstrong sued the newspaper for, and then later settled out of court for the $485,000. But now that since, Armstrong has been stripped of his titles and medals after the U.S. Anti-doping Agency concluded his involvement with the drugs, the newspaper is suing the 41-year-old.
A letter sent by the Sunday Times to Armstrong indicates, "It is clear that the proceedings were baseless and fraudulent...Your representations that you had never taken performance enhancing drugs were deliberately false...The Sunday Times is now demanding a return of the settlement payment plus interest, as well as its costs in defending the case," as reported by the Associated Press.
In November, the seven time Tour de France title winner announced that he was stepping down from the Board of the LiveStrong Foundation, 18 days after he resigned as the foundation's chairman, all due to the recent doping scandal.
Armstrong founded LiveStrong Cancer Foundation almost 15 years ago.
No sooner did Armstrong release the statement than Nike Inc. announced "Due to the seemingly insurmountable evidence that Lance Armstrong participated in doping and misled Nike for more than a decade, it is with great sadness that we have terminated our contract with him," as reported by Reuters.
In August, the celebrated cyclists Lance Armstrong will be stripped of all his medals and titles as a result of doping charges according to Travis Tygart, the chief executive of the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
Armstrong refused to go ahead with arbitration in the charges pitted against him in the doping scandal, "There comes a point in a man's life when he has to say Enough is Enough!," as he told the Las Angeles Times.
Armstrong, who was fighting against allegation of using enhancement drugs for over year, will now lose all his Tour titles, the 2000 Olympic Bronze medal and will also be banned from the competition for the rest of his life.
Armstrong never tested positive for any drugs during his career span of over ten years.
The USDA had alleged that the Olympic medalist was involved in using as well as trafficking and distributing performance enhancements. The USDA says that it possess evidence from Armstrong's teammates and other close sources who confirm that Armstrong was on steroids. The agency said it would not disclose the names of those that provided evidence.
Armstrong won the Tour de France for seven consecutive times between 1999-2005. The athlete, who has survivor of testicular cancer, has a foundation dedicated to the cause called The Lance Armstrong Foundation, Living Strong.
