Justice Department Joins Suit Against Armstrong

The Justice Department has jumped onto Floyd Landis' lawsuit against Lance Armstrong, arguing that the disgraced cyclist defrauded the government by violating its ban on illegal drugs while under contract to race for the US Postal Service team. The government is asking for around $100 million, or about three times what it paid Armstrong, USA Today reports.

Landis had filed a suit against Armstrong under the False Claims Act in 2010, and the government has been considering joining it ever since. Landis stands to gain 25% of the damages as a whistleblower. Armstrong's attorneys say they've been in negotiations with the Justice Department about the case for weeks, but "those talks failed because we disagree about whether the Postal Service was damaged." Armstrong will likely argue that despite the doping, the Postal Service benefited by sponsoring him. (More Lance Armstrong stories.)