Armstrong lawyers: Justice Dept joining fraud suit

FILE - In this July 28, 2006 file photo, Lance Armstrong testifies during a U.S. Senate field hearing on cancer research and funding in Iowa City, Iowa. Armstrong is facing a Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2013 deadline to decide whether he will meet with U.S. Anti-Doping Agency officials and talk with them under oath about what he knows about performance-enhancing drug use in cycling. The agency has said Armstrong's cooperation in its cleanup effort is the only path open to Armstrong if his lifetime ban from sports it to be reduced.(AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
FILE - In this July 28, 2006  file photo, Lance Armstrong testifies during a U.S. Senate field hearing on cancer research and funding in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)
FILE – In this July 28, 2006 file photo, Lance Armstrong testifies during a U.S. Senate field hearing on cancer research and funding in Iowa City, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall, File)

Pete Yost
Associated Press

WASHINGTON (AP) — Lawyers for Lance Armstrong say the Justice Department has joined a lawsuit against the cyclist. The lawsuit alleges the former Tour de France champion concealed his use of performance-enhancing drugs for over a decade and defrauded his long-time sponsor, the U.S. Postal Service.

The suit the Justice Department is joining was filed in 2010 by former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour de France title for doping.

An Armstrong lawyer, Robert Luskin, said Friday that negotiations with the government failed because “we disagree about whether the postal service was damaged.”

Said Luskin: “The postal service’s own studies show that the service benefited tremendously from its sponsorship — benefits totaling more than $100 million.”

The Landis lawsuit was filed under seal, but it will be unsealed now.