Subpoenas issued to witnesses in Lance Armstrong inquiry, says report
Federal authorities investigating possible fraud and doping charges against Lance Armstrong and his associates have issued grand jury subpoenas to witnesses, according to several people briefed on the case, the New York Times has reported today.
Individuals involved are said to have spoken on the condition of anonymity because they did not want to be identified discussing a federal investigation.
If grand jury subpoenas have been issued it represents a significant step in the investigation into whether Armstrong and others on the United States Postal Service cycling team were involved in alleged systematic doping in the early- to mid-2000s, the newspaper says.
That federal investigation was kick-started this year when the rider Floyd Landis, who was stripped of the 2006 Tour de France title for doping, told investigators that he and other riders on the Postal Service team had engaged in doping together.
In particular, Landis said the team used its money to buy doping products and that Armstrong and the team manager, Johan Bruyneel, had encouraged doping on the team. Landis alleged that at one race the team bus came to a halt for the riders – including Armstrong and the United States road racing national champion George Hincapie – to conduct blood transfusions.
Armstrong, who is in 31st place at this year's Tour de France, has repeatedly said he has never used performance-enhancing drugs or methods. He also has never been sanctioned for a doping violation. He has said that Landis's claims are not true and that Landis, who had lied about his own doping practices until recently, is not credible.
Landis, who has met the leading agent on the case, Jeff Novitzky, several times is not thought to be among the witnesses the authorities want to question before the grand jury, at least at this point. But other riders, including several who are competing at the Tour, have already been contacted by investigators.
At least two people previously involved with the United States Postal Service Team told investigators of their past doping practices, the newspaper says.