On 23 May 2006, Saiz was arrested in relation to the Operación Puerto blood doping scandal. Liberty Mutual retracted sponsorship on 25 May 2006, promising only to finance current obligations. On 2 June 2006, the team acquired a new primary sponsor - named Astana, the capital of Kazakhstan - for three years, with an option to extend to six. It was headed by a consortium of five Kazakh companies. Long before Saiz was ensnared in Operación Puerto, the team had been notorious for doping dating back to its days as ONCE, and was considered one of the dirtiest teams in the European "peloton."