Well worth a reprint of this part of USADAs letter correspondence to the UCI:
Armstrong payment to the UCI
In the April 30, 2010, email from Floyd Landis to USA Cycling President Steve Johnson (that is referred to in both of your letters and discussed above) Mr. Landis alleged that while winning the Tour of Switzerland Mr. Armstrong “tested positive for EPO at which point he and Mr. Bruyneel flew to the UCI headquarters and made a financial arrangement with Mr. [Verbruggen] to keep the positive test hidden.”
As part of its investigation concerning alleged doping by Mr. Armstrong USADA met with Lausanne laboratory director Martial Saugy who confirmed various communications and meetings he claims to have had with UCI personnel, Johann Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong concerning EPO test results for a sample that Mr. Armstrong provided at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. Mr. Saugy told USADA that representatives of UCI were aware of both the indication of EPO use from Mr. Armstrong’s 2001 Tour of Switzerland sample and of the meetings involving Dr. Saugy, Mr. Armstrong and Mr. Bruyneel.
In May 2011 Tyler Hamilton appeared on the 60 Minutes news program and stated Lance Armstrong had told him that Armstrong had a positive test for EPO at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland and that Hamilton was told that “Lance’s people and the people from the . . . governing body of the sport figured out— figured out a way for it to go away.”
In addition, USADA has reviewed statements attributed to you concerning the foregoing and Mr. Armstrong’s payments to the UCI and noted certain apparent inconsistencies. For instance, we understand that on May 23, 2010, you confirmed that Mr. Armstrong did make a payment to the UCI, stating:
The UCI received $100,000 from Lance Armstrong in 2005. Four years after this incident [the Tour of Switzerland] is supposed to have taken place. So they are completely separate. That money was given to the UCI to buy a Sysmex machine because we needed to go more into blood controls and we needed a Sysmex machine which cost something like $88,000. It was given to the UCI to buy that machine and the UCI is still using that machine at international events on a daily basis.
In your May 23, 2010, statement you apparently did not mention any meeting involving both Johan Bruyneel and Lance Armstrong and you relied upon an alleged four year gap between the 2001 Tour of Switzerland, (which took place from June 19 through June 28, 2001), and Mr. Armstrong’s 2005 payment to UCI as demonstrating the absence of a connection between Armstrong’s 2001 Tour of Switzerland test results and his subsequent payment to the UCI.
However, in a subsequent article, on May 25, 2010, you apparently conceded that a meeting with Mr. Bruyneel and Mr. Armstrong did take place at UCI headquarters less than a year after the 2001 Tour of Switzerland. We understand that you stated:
We are looking into it to be fully transparent, by the end of it we will have the full facts available. That will include the invoice of the Sysmex machine, when it was bought. My understanding, without having examined the full detail, is that during 2002 Lance Armstrong and Johan Bruyneel visited the UCI headquarters in Aigle. It had just opened in April 2002, it was some time after that. They got a guided tour of the centre. They were impressed by what they saw and Armstrong offered $100,000 to help the development of cycling. The UCI decided to use the money on a Sysmex machine, my understanding is that the machine cost around $88,000. We did nothing more about this until 2005 when it was realized that the money had not been paid by Armstrong. A phone call was made and the money came in.
The foregoing statement appears to be inconsistent with your earlier statement regarding the timing of the communications with Mr. Armstrong and concerning Mr. Bruyneel’s involvement. Also, you initially stated that there was only a single payment to UCI from Mr. Armstrong totaling $100,000.
However, you thereafter stated that Mr. Armstrong made two payments to the UCI. According to you, UCI received from Mr. Armstrong “in May 2002 . . . a personal cheque, signed by himself and his wife, for $25,000” and in 2005 a check for $100,000 “from his company CSE.”
Yet, in the arbitration between Mr. Armstrong and SCA Promotions, Mr. Armstrong was questioned regarding his payments to the UCI and provided responses inconsistent with your explanation. While Mr. Armstrong referenced various possible amounts of payments in his testimony, he ultimately testified that he may have made a payment or payments to the UCI totaling as much as $200,000 and that he may have made pledges of additional payments to the UCI. Therefore, Mr. Armstrong’s prior testimony under oath appears to conflict with your statements regarding the amount of the payments made by Armstrong, also indicating that he may have made additional promises of payments to the UCI.
Mr. Armstrong’s payments to the UCI create a further conflict of interest for the UCI. In addition, given that there exists evidence that the payments relate to evidence and claims in these very cases it is apparent that the UCI may be called upon to provide evidence in the eventual arbitration hearing. For this reason as well the UCI is foreclosed from participating in the results management of Mr. Armstrong’s case.
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