Lance Armstrong Settles $100M Lawsuit for Far Less

Lance Armstrong has put his last legal action behind him, settling the federal government's $100 million lawsuit for $5 million. The government had been seeking damages under the False Claims Act because the disgraced cyclist used performance-enhancing drugs while his team was sponsored by the US Postal Service, CNN reports. The service paid $31 million to sponsor the team between 2001 and 2004. "No one is above the law," Chad Readler at the Justice Department's Civil Division said in a statement. "A competitor who intentionally uses illegal PEDs not only deceives fellow competitors and fans, but also sponsors, who help make sporting competitions possible. This settlement demonstrates that those who cheat the government will be held accountable."

A civil trial had been set to begin May 7 in the case, the Washington Post reports. Armstrong—who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles after admitting doping—will also have to pay $1.65 million to cover the legal costs of whistleblower Floyd Landis, the former teammate who filed the original complaint. Landis will also receive $1.1 million from the settlement. Armstrong recently listed his Austin home for sale at $7.5 million. Before the settlement, Landis, who was stripped of his own Tour de France title for doping, told the Atlantic he didn't care about the money. He said exposing doping on the team was never really about Armstrong in the first place. "I had a choice to come clean or not, and if I did, it was going to be me against Lance, because he was going to fight," he said. (Armstrong was fined $10 million in 2015 for his "unparalleled pageant of fraud.")