So in the last post, I mentioned that CyclingNews.com had run a brief article suggesting that Floyd Landis might be under investigation for fraud related to the creation and fund-raising activities of the Floyd Fairness Fund from way back when.
And for several weeks, it appeared that the story was going exactly nowhere. I searched through Google News from time to time to see if other articles appeared relating to the story, and didn’t find any — until yesterday, that is. Turns out, Mark Zeigler of the San Diego Union-Tribune picked up the story and was able to confirm that the investigation is under way. And then, ESPN’s Bonnie D. Ford managed to get a comment from Landis, himself, confirming that he is, indeed, the target of an investigation of some sort. As Bonnie Ford reports:
“I can’t get into the substance of the investigation, but I am sure you can understand that I would prefer to not be under investigation,” he said in an email. “However, when I was living the lie of denying doping in cycling, it was an ordeal for me as well. Coming clean with the truth has been a stressful process, but I knew that would be the case when I decided to expose the truth about me and cycling.
“I am optimistic that when the prosecutors understand me and the whole situation, they are going to do the right thing.”
Zeigler gives us the low-down on the prosecutor investigating Landis:
Assistant U.S. Attorney Phil Halpern, head of the fraud division in San Diego, is pursuing the case against Landis. Halpern also has a racing license with USA Cycling, the sport’s national governing body. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego would not confirm or deny Landis is the subject of a grand jury investigation.
Ironic, perhaps, that it’s another racing cyclist who is leading the investigation of America’s most notorious cyclist (except for Lance).
Ford reminds us, in her article, that Landis didn’t have the ability to write checks from the money collected, and refers to an October 2010 story where Michael Henson, who administered the fund, said that the money collected went to pay Landis’ legal bills. I’ve got no reason to doubt Michael Henson’s word, so I’ll take it at face value that the money was spent the way they said it would be.
Unfortunately for Landis, he authored a book that said he never doped, and he made similar statements during fund-raising appearances. In light of his statements in 2010, where he admitted to doping during his career (and during his preparation for the 2006 Tour), we now know that his claims of never doping were, quite simply, false.
So, having made at least that false claim while assisting the people raising funds for his defense, did Landis commit fraud? In a word, yes. As one of my long-distance legal eagle pals told me in an email, “[I]it’s a pretty much classic definition of fraud: when someone gains something of value like money via intentional deception.”
Landis knew he had doped during his career — even if, as he claims, he didn’t use testosterone during the 2006 Tour. So to claim he’d never doped was a lie. And if he had told the truth and said, “Yes, I’ve doped in my career, but I didn’t do what they’re accusing me of,” well I doubt he would have been able to collect much money. Except, perhaps, from the wealthy donors who would probably have helped bankroll his defense even without the FFF. (I know I would have cast a jaundiced eye towards donating if I’d been aware that he wasn’t telling the truth on that score.)
So the question becomes, as my legal eagle correspondent said, “does someone accused of wrongdoing have the right to solicit contributions for his own defense? If so, does that right extend only to the innocent?” I think that as this investigation plays out, we will see what the answers to those questions might be.
Not to impugn the reputation of the prosecutor involved, but I find the timing a bit odd. Landis was cooperating with the Novitzky investigation of Armstrong and company, and that investigation was dropped. Now Floyd is under investigation for wire fraud/mail fraud, in relation to his fund-raising efforts. Payback, perhaps? Or perhaps Halpern had to wait his turn, until the whole Novitzky/Armstrong investigation was finished?
Meanwhile, Floyd Landis gets another round in the hot seat. And another chance to become one with the old saw, “O what tangled webs we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” More and more, Pat McQuaid’s advice to Landis back in 2006 (“shut up, take the suspension, and come back in two years”) is looking like sage advice.
Here’s my own bit of free advice to Floyd, for what it’s worth: You can’t change what’s already happened, it’s water under the bridge. That being the case, be ruthlessly honest with those Federal investigators. Even if they can’t get you on fraud charges, they could go after you for lying to investigators. So play it safe and tell the truth, however hard that may be.
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