Lance Armstrong was back in the news again today, not that he’s ever strayed much from the lime-light, but it’s been a few weeks since he last appeared – which is nothing short of a milestone for the disgraced cyclist.
At issue, is the clashing between Armstrong’s attorneys and federal prosecutors over issue of emails between the former Tour de France champion and Thomas Weisel, that could prove that the well-known fancier and US Postal Service team owner, knew about the widespread doping program the was occurring within the ranks of the team.
Armstrong’s attorneys are attempting to block the government’s request to gain access to emails between Armstrong and the former team owner, as part of Floyd Landis’ federal whistleblower case.
According to an article in USA Today, Armstrong’s attorneys want to limit the request for the email exchanges with Weisel to a specific search term, but the government prosecutors instead want all correspondence to and from Weisel.
"Our position — and I repeat it for the record — is we need a set of search terms from the government," Armstrong attorney Sharif Jacob said in a court transcript. "Why don’t you send them over so we can consider them?"
David Finkelstein, the government attorney replied, "I just said our search term is Mr. Weisel’s email address. You said, ‘I’m not going to run that unless you limit it further.’ Have I mischaracterized your position?"
"If the government is refusing to provide any modifiers to that search term … we have reached an impasse," Jacob said.
Armstrong went on record a year ago, saying that Weisel knew about the team’s wide-spread doping program, but Weisel has since refused to give comment.
The US Postal Service’s sponsorship of Armstrong’s team totaled some $40 million, and under the Federal False Claims Act, the government could stand to recoup three times that amount if it wins the case.
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