Armstrong Under Criminal Investigation

[ChewbaccaD]

I'm with you, FairWayForward. I've always viewed sports as just another form of entertainment and feel I've gotten my money's worth out of being a fan of the sport and even a fan of Armstrong's on-bike performances. But lots of self-righteously altruistic individuals in the clinic think that makes me a troll. cest la vie.

Oh, and to answer your question: Hating Armstrong IS the "popular" position in this forum, as are ad-hominem attacks towards those who posit otherwise.

That makes one of you.

You will be known by the company you keep, and your company is one of the biggest trolls on the intertubes.

 

[H2OUUP2]

Lance has suffered enough.

5 posts, and 5 times he says or implies this. Lance! That you, buddy?

 

[purcell]

I guess I'm more liberal on these matters than you Joe Arpaio types. I don't think it's outrageous to suggest it's rather petty to for the feds to proceed with these minor charges at this late stage, when they've stopped all the heavy stuff. I don't think most of the people trying to clean the sport up really want Lance to go to jail for being annoyed with Tyler. Lance has suffered enough. Does even Tyler want that? Would his opinion matter to anyone here? If a football player can escape a double murder charge and play the superbowl, I think we can spare Lance jail for this stuff.

Interesting to know what JV thinks. I suspect he would agree with my sentiments.

Oh, very well done! Current affairs reference. Poorly done, but still ....

 

[MarkvW]

how about Travis Tygart himself? He said on 60 minutes he was intimidated & "got the FBI looked into those threats" so........

Yes . . . that would constitute a "federal investigation," wouldn't it?

 

[frenchfry]

The trolls are funny. Interfering with a Federal investigation, intimidating witnesses, these are crimes. They should be ignored because Lance went on Oprah?

There are other witnesses who were intimated. I know of one very interesting one who never went public. It will be good for that story to see the light of day

Not to mention threatening the press, like CBS for example. I don't know if that is illegal, but it sure is stupid.

 

[Fearless Greg Lemond]

[/IMG]

Given Armstrongs' love for speedo's he might even like that hug

 

[Deagol]

Could some of this include possible threats against Tygart?

That's a good point. He (tygart) did say that he let the FBI know about that...

 

[Deagol]

This is not that much of a surprise to many. There were hints of other investigations going on. Though I'm sure Armstrong is pleased the big investigation is now closed down, it appears the incident with Tyler is still being investigated by another group of feds.

Does anyone want to see Armstrong prosecuted for this? I can't see how it helps the sport to have his name in the news regarding ongoing investigations. Would even Tyler really want him prosecuted?

Be interesting to know what people think?

This goes beyond "the Sport". We are supposed to have laws in the USA, regardless of if you are involved in any sport. Justice is the most important thing, not the image of some (or any) sport.


EDIT: read rest of this thread, appears I responded to another BPC type of poster before realizing it. If the "logic" this poster used to justify Lance's action, we would live in a brutal Darwinian type of society where you could be above the law, as long as you were entertaining the masses. Sick. .

 

[DirtyWorks]

Can this ******* be impeached or something? So strange there aren't any consequences for letting a criminal off the hook like that.

There is as much politics in law enforcement/judicial as anything else. In the U.S. it's definitely a pay to play environment. Just don't get caught making or recieving the payments!

Wonderboy proxied the lobbying through Cheatstrong before and directly with Fabiani.

Judging by the latest rounds of epic Wonderboy fails, I think the best Fabiani can do is a negotiated deal with fines and no fault admitted on Wonderboy's part. Let's hope Fabiani fails!

 

[trompe le monde]

I'm not surprised a new investigation has Lance in the cross hairs. Not that Oprah holds the scale of justice in the court of public opinion, but his 'pseudo confession' to Oprah was rather remorseless - he flat out admitted that he wouldn't be doing the interview with Oprah had he not decided to do his ill fated comeback.

Don't know, but anybody who publicly states something to the effect that 'I would be happier had I got away with it' deserves some level of legal scrutiny. It would be a bit of a shame if the intimidation and witness tampering that Lance did would go unpunished.

 

[Carols]

Didn't come for a popularity contest, but what is unpopular about it? He lost his titles. He confessed. I think most people would say that is enough. Are you stating you want him in jail? Is that the "popular" position? I haven't found that to be the case anywhere else, why is different here?

Can you explain why you want him in jail and how this is good for the sport?

Do you ask for all unpopular opinions to be edited?

If he broke the laws of the USA he should be treated like any other citizen. If proven guilty, he should pay the same price as any other citizen. He is not above the law.

EDIT: Seems I was responding to the sock puppet of a banned poster that is now banned!

 

[datalore]

Borat had no idea that another office was investigating until he read my tweet an hour ago

This is super sketchy. If he didn't have some stake in Armstrong's fate, why would he claim so adamantly that there was no investigation when he had no way of knowing if that was true or not?

 

[reginagold]

This is super sketchy. If he didn't have some stake in Armstrong's fate, why would he claim so adamantly that there was no investigation when he had no way of knowing if that was true or not?

Justice doesn't usually publicly announce its investigations, for so so many reasons. Now suppose the same folks that worked to get political pressure on Birotte to shut the thing down in the first instance, got word to him again they needed the public to know he still wasn't doing any investigating. He does so - and now DOJ has to reveal there in fact is an open investigation. Perhaps Birotte was used to smoke out what was happening deep w/in Justice. This type of strategy IS why people pay the big money to the Fabianis, Luskins, etc.
I'll bet people at DOJ are seriously ****ed about this development. Years of hard work exposed prematurely and all that.

 

[Poursuivant]

What type of timescale are we looking at? Years again?

 

[Haynzie]

No, months.

 

[coinneach]

This is super sketchy. If he didn't have some stake in Armstrong's fate, why would he claim so adamantly that there was no investigation when he had no way of knowing if that was true or not?

For exactly the same reason that Lances lawyer announced he wouldn't have to give any money back......wishful thinking!

 

[DirtyWorks]

...Now suppose the same folks that worked to get political pressure on Birotte to shut the thing down in the first instance, got word to him again they needed the public to know he still wasn't doing any investigating...

I believe the circumstances were he was asked about Wonderboy's investigation at an unrelated press conference about long overdue prosecution of just one player in the U.S.'s badly named "housing crisis." So, in his corner of the law enforcement world, it's done and still is done.

The open question is, can Fabiani fend off the next agency?

One way it could work, Fabiani talks to Congress critters who fund whatever the agency is. Congress critter is supposed to telegraph back to the agency their "concern" about the agency's actions. The implicit threat is to pull funding for said agency if they continue on with the Wonderboy investigation, whatever that is. We saw that play being used once already.

What appeared to happen with Birotte is an influential Democrat asks him to consider the unspoken multi-faceted consequences of pursuing Wonderboy. From a career perspective, that's a gift. That play could be used again.

 

[DirtyWorks]

No, months.

And you know this because? Wait. I don't want to know. Please, no information. Talk is cheap.

 

[reginagold]

I believe the circumstances were he was asked about Wonderboy's investigation at an unrelated press conference about long overdue prosecution of just one player in the U.S.'s badly named "housing crisis."

Yes. Doesn't preclude a planted question. Has Mr. Birotte commented publicly on this case since it was "paused?" I'm not sure, but if this is the first time he's offered any comment, well.....

 

[MarkvW]

And you know this because? Wait. I don't want to know. Please, no information. Talk is cheap.

He doesn't know. He's just doing the "Tuesday" thing.

 

[Haynzie]

He doesn't know. He's just doing the "Tuesday" thing.

No idea what that means.

No, you are quite correct, Mark, I don't know. But come back in 12 months.

 

[peterst6906]

No idea what that means.

No, you are quite correct, Mark, I don't know. But come back in 12 months.

If you don't know what that means, then you mustn't have lurked for very long before starting to post. It's a reference to an old joke here about when charges against Armstrong would be filed.

More or less used as a term now to refer to something that is pure speculation with no factual basis for it. Hence your statement is a 'Tuesday thing'.

 

[Haynzie]

Ah, I see. Excuse my ignorance

Not speculation, by me, but a whisper from a transatlantic contact who has..err...contacts. Word on the street is that moves are already afoot to secure everything gathered from the Novitzky investigation.

Take it with a pinch of salt by all means.

 

[Page Mill Masochist]

Totally a coincidence this came out after the last Clinton left public office.

Birotte is a bit exposed now.

Agree. The Obama and Clinton camps are not friendly. If Team Obama can wreck Hillary's 2016 prez chances and Bill's influence on the Democratic party -- without leaving fingerprints -- they'll do so.

 

[DirtyWorks]

As an FYI to those that may want some insight into DC culture, this link has some colorful examples of regulators/law enforcement politics in action.

... the characters Barofsky encounters seem to worry endlessly about one-upping each other, not rocking the boat, and avoiding looking like tools in the media and/or to their bosses.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politic...ofskys-adventures-in-groupthink-city-20130206

All in all, pretty common human behaviour.