Lance Armstrong ordered to pay ‘unprecedented’ $10m for perjury

Former cyclist Lance Armstrong has been ordered to pay $10 million (£6.5m) in damages after losing a lawsuit with SCA Promotions.

Lance Armstrong
Lance Armstrong

The Texas firm was made to pay the American $7.5m (£4.89m) in relation to his seven Tour de France titles in 2006 after an arbitration process.

But Armstrong later admitted to doping and was found to have lied in the proceedings.

A statement from SCA Promotions read: "Lance Armstrong was hit with a record-breaking $10 million sanctions award by the arbitration panel hearing his dispute with Dallas-based SCA Promotions, Inc.

"According to the arbitrators' written ruling, the sanctions award punishes Armstrong for engaging in 'an unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy'.

"The 10 million-dollar award, which must be paid directly to SCA Promotions, is believed to be the largest award of sanctions assessed against an individual in American judicial history."

Armstrong was handed a lifetime ban by the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) in 2012 and stripped of all seven of his yellow jerseys.

In January 2013, Armstrong finally admitted to using banned substances in an interview with Oprah Winfrey, and said his feat of seven consecutive Tour de Frances between 1999 and 2005 would have been impossible without doping.

SCA, however, insisted that the case against Armstrong would continue.

"SCA's dispute with Armstrong is not over," the statement said.

"It has a currently pending lawsuit in Dallas state district court where it is pursuing additional claims against Lance Armstrong and Bill Stapleton (Armstrong's agent)."