Popovych testifies

[goober]

Should not be a surprise that they knew he was coming. Armstrong does not have friends, he has employees. Novitzky has plenty of Armstrong insiders feeding him info......where do you think I get mine?

Why do you lie? Does it make you feel big?

 

[Nearly]

CN is reporting Popo was once again dragging around a peleton of Feds http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feds-surprised-popovych-at-armstrong-fundraiser - shades of USPS days!

 

[scribe]

I can see one area where house republicans can make immediate spending cuts.

 

[D-Queued]

I don't know. Personally, I don't know what has happened in there. And I have been around here long enough to know not to listen to what others say is happening.

I'm a fanboy of US cycling. Lance happens to be a part of that. If the whole thing collapses and they all go to jail, so be it. Maybe our next group of stars can rise above the fray and give us something real to cheer for.

Nothing wrong with being a fanboy of US cycling.

The next group of stars needs a different role model.

Dave.

 

[Merckx index]

CN is reporting Popo was once again dragging around a peleton of Feds http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feds-surprised-popovych-at-armstrong-fundraiser - shades of USPS days!

Assuming the account given by CN is true:

1) Novitzky thinks Popo could be a key witness, who can testify about doping on UPS; in which case
a) he was wrong; OR
b) Popo's lawyer lied about his client's testimony

OR

2) Novitzky is resorting to melodrama in order to put a scare into LA and co.

Either way I don't get it. If the Feds knew Popo would be at Mellow Johnny's, couldn't they have gotten there earlier, avoiding the slammed car door, tailing down the street, blocking the car tactics? Or wouldn't they know where he was staying? Or maybe the problem was neither Popo nor anyone else with him knew enough English to understand a simple, would you please wait a minute, sir, we want to serve you with a subpoena? I'm really having trouble believing it had to unfold in this manner.

 

[Oldman]

Assuming the account given by CN is true:

1) Novitzky thinks Popo could be a key witness, who can testify about doping on UPS; in which case
a) he was wrong; OR
b) Popo's lawyer lied about his client's testimony

OR

2) Novitzky is resorting to melodrama in order to put a scare into LA and co.

Either way I don't get it. If the Feds knew Popo would be at Mellow Johnny's, couldn't they have gotten there earlier, avoiding the slammed car door, tailing down the street, blocking the car tactics? Or wouldn't they know where he was staying? Or maybe the problem was neither Popo nor anyone else with him knew enough English to understand a simple, would you please wait a minute, sir, we want to serve you with a subpoena? I'm really having trouble believing it had to unfold in this manner.

The problem was he might have thought someone wanted him to pee in a bottle.

 

[JA.Tri]

another possibility

Quote:
Originally Posted by Merckx index View Post
"Assuming the account given by CN is true:

1) Novitzky thinks Popo could be a key witness, who can testify about doping on UPS; in which case
a) he was wrong; OR
b) Popo's lawyer lied about his client's testimony

OR

2) Novitzky is resorting to melodrama in order to put a scare into LA and co...."

OR??

Popo did not inform his lawyer of his entire testimony???

 

[hughmoore]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Merckx index View Post
"Assuming the account given by CN is true:

1) Novitzky thinks Popo could be a key witness, who can testify about doping on UPS; in which case
a) he was wrong; OR
b) Popo's lawyer lied about his client's testimony

OR

2) Novitzky is resorting to melodrama in order to put a scare into LA and co...."

OR??

Popo did not inform his lawyer of his entire testimony???

Arent you allowed a legal representative with you in a GJ?



Thanks

Hugh

 

[MadonePro]

Assuming the account given by CN is true:

1) Novitzky thinks Popo could be a key witness, who can testify about doping on UPS; in which case
a) he was wrong; OR
b) Popo's lawyer lied about his client's testimony

OR

2) Novitzky is resorting to melodrama in order to put a scare into LA and co.

Either way I don't get it. If the Feds knew Popo would be at Mellow Johnny's, couldn't they have gotten there earlier, avoiding the slammed car door, tailing down the street, blocking the car tactics? Or wouldn't they know where he was staying? Or maybe the problem was neither Popo nor anyone else with him knew enough English to understand a simple, would you please wait a minute, sir, we want to serve you with a subpoena? I'm really having trouble believing it had to unfold in this manner.

Must be a quiet day in the offices of CN. But then again, if you look at most news stories published by this UK run site, it comes as no surprise that the journalism is merely gutter press with a huge anti Lance slant, buy hey, the English probably are as resentful as the French due to there lack of cycling success.

 

[thehog]

CN is reporting Popo was once again dragging around a peleton of Feds http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feds-surprised-popovych-at-armstrong-fundraiser - shades of USPS days!

I think Popo surprise was that he normally he knows when he drug testers are coming so to be aprehended like this was a complete shock. Perhaps Nov and the Feds can take over testng for the UCI?

 

[MadonePro]

The team was sponsored by the 'post office' up until end of 2004 - this testimony was taken in late 2005, are you suggesting he could not remember signing a new deal from just months before and as he was about to retire?

"Small ownership" is still ownership - in fact some could say 10% is significant.

The reason I did not quote the rest is because its irrelevant - but as you added more to the quote I might as well add then next 2 sentences - as they are revelvant.


.....A. I'm sure there is.
Q. Are you still -- do you still have a contract with Tailwind?
A. Yeah

If you don't bother to read the extra info I provided, you'll realise your point here isn't worth the time it took to write it.

Apologies for the length, but some posters refuse to read the links.

By Bonnie D. Ford
ESPN.com
Lance Armstrong, facing pressure on and off the road in his final Tour de France, told reporters at the race Wednesday that he did not have any financial interest in the management company that owned his U.S. Postal Service team at the height of his career.

However, Armstrong's statements -- made before the start of Stage 10 of the Tour -- appear to contradict his sworn testimony in a deposition taken in 2005 during the course of a lawsuit against SCA Promotions.

Armstrong was responding to reports about a federal investigation of possible fraud and doping charges against him and former associates, a probe led by U.S. Food and Drug Administration agent Jeff Novitsky. Grand jury subpoenas have been issued in the investigation, ESPN.com has confirmed.

The seven-time Tour winner said Wednesday he had not been contacted by any federal investigators. He once again denied doping or facilitating doping and asserted he was not involved in the business side of the cycling operation during the period being scrutinized by investigators.

Tailwind Sports owned the Postal team for several years before entering into a management services contract with Capital Sports & Entertainment, the Austin-based firm that represents Armstrong. The two entities jointly co-owned and managed the team from 2004 through 2007 and were connected at that time through Armstrong's longtime agent Bill Stapleton, who founded and is still a principal of CS&E and formerly served as CEO of the now-defunct Tailwind.

The U.S. Postal Service bowed out as title sponsor of the team after the 2004 season, when Discovery Communications took over the primary financial backing of the team.

"I was a rider on the team, I was contracted with Tailwind Sports, I never had any dealings -- any -- with the Postal Service -- zero," Armstrong said. "I didn't own the company. I didn't have an equity stake. I didn't have a profit stake, I didn't have a seat on the board. I can't be any clearer than that."

According to The New York Times, Armstrong added, "That's the truth and that's what the contracts say and that's what will come out."

Yet in November 2005, a few months after his first retirement, Armstrong said under oath that he owned a small stake in Tailwind, although he was vague about when he acquired it. Armstrong gave that deposition in the course of a lawsuit he brought against SCA to recover a $5 million bonus promised when he won his sixth consecutive Tour. SCA refused to pay the bonus after doping allegations surfaced against Armstrong. The case went to arbitration and was eventually settled in Armstrong's favor before the panel ruled.

In the text of the deposition, obtained by ESPN.com several months ago, Armstrong responded this way to questioning by attorney Jeff Tillotson, who represented SCA:

Q. Can you tell us what your relationship, first, your business relationship with Tailwind Sports, is?
A. I'm an athlete on the team.
Q. Do you have any ownership interest in Tailwind Sports?
A. A small one.
Q. When you say a small one, can you give me an approximate percentage as to what that would be, if you know?
A. Perhaps 10 percent.
Q. Do you know when you acquired that ownership interest?
A. No. I don't remember.
Q. Would it have been in 2005, or before that?
A. I don't remember.
Q. Do you have any -- is there -- do you have any recollection as to when it would have been? '02? '03? '04?
A. Before today.
Q. OK. Would it have been before 2001?
A. Probably not, but I'm not a hundred percent sure.
Q. Who would know the answer to that question as to when you acquired an ownership interest in Tailwind?
A. Bill Stapleton.
Q. Is there documentation? Like do you have papers or an ownership certificate of some sort that reflects your ownership interest in Tailwind?
A. I'm sure there is.
"[Armstrong] identified himself as a co-owner under oath, and he never retracted it," Tillotson told ESPN.com Wednesday in a telephone interview from his Dallas office. "We assumed those statements were truthful when he gave them. Put it this way -- there were many statements Lance Armstrong gave under oath that we had trouble believing. This was not one of them."

In a separate deposition taken in September 2005, Stapleton, also questioned by Tillotson, said Armstrong was among "10 or 15" owners of Tailwind. Stapleton said he thought the cyclist controlled 11.5 percent of the company, the same percentage as CS&E.

It was unclear from the legal documents obtained by ESPN.com exactly when Armstrong actually invested in Tailwind -- before or after the U.S. Postal Service dropped its sponsorship.

Stapleton said in his deposition that Armstrong and CS&E acquired their stakes in the San Francisco-based company simultaneously as part of a third round of private equity investment in Tailwind, which had been through two previous rounds to raise money before CS&E became involved.

"The owners as they existed then were diluted, and ownership was given to Lance and to CS&E," Stapleton, then the CEO of Tailwind, testified.

Stapleton added that he did not think that Armstrong's ownership in Tailwind had been formalized prior to the 2004 Tour.

"It was certainly intended by the summer of 2004," Stapleton testified. "I don't think it was executed."

Late Wednesday, Armstrong's personal lawyer Tim Herman issued a statement regarding Armstrong's ownership stake in Tailwind, saying he was trying to clear up "questions and confusion:"

"In December of 2007, Lance Armstrong received his first shares of common stock of Tailwind Sports Corp.," Herman's statement said. "Tailwind had not previously issued any shares of stock to Lance before 2007. The confusion on the timing, which is not new, stems from the fact that the Board of Directors of Tailwind decided in 2004 to approve the issuance of shares of Tailwind stock to Lance and others as consideration for valuable services that had been provided to the company. Although the Board of Directors told the intended recipients in 2004 that the stock would be issued, the stock was not actually awarded to Lance and the others until December 2007.

"Thus, when Lance was asked questions about it in 2005, he truthfully answered that he believed he was a small minority owner in Tailwind but did not know or understand the details. Those details were finalized in December of 2007 based on the Board's actions and communications in 2004," he said.

Herman called any questions about Armstrong's ownership in Tailwind "an attempt to create the proverbial mountain out of a molehill. ... Tailwind was operated in a legal, legitimate manner and Lance was a rider for Tailwind, not a manager. Lance has always accurately stated his understanding of whether and how much of Tailwind he owned and his comments today about not acquiring ownership until 2007 are no different."

The federal investigation was triggered when Armstrong's former teammate Floyd Landis, who was stripped of his 2006 Tour title for doping, said the use of banned substances was common on the U.S. Postal Service team when he rode with Armstrong.

"Like I said, as long as we have a legitimate and credible and fair investigation, we'll be happy to cooperate, but I'm not going to participate in any kind of witch hunt," Armstrong said. "I've done too many good things for too many people."

He maintained that stories are being leaked to the media as part of an "agenda" against him and questioned the need for a federal probe.

"Would the American people feel like this is a good use of their tax dollars?" he said. "That's for them to decide."

Armstrong repeated that Landis, who recently admitted to doping after years of denials, cannot be believed. He also said he didn't believe that other riders had come forward with similar allegations.

"I don't think the government will build a case on Floyd Landis," said Armstrong. "His credibility left a long time ago."

Bonnie D. Ford covers tennis and Olympic sports for ESPN.com. Information from ESPN's T.J. Quinn and The Associated Press was used in this report.

 

[Dr. Maserati]

If you don't bother to read the extra info I provided, you'll realise your point here isn't worth the time it took to write it.

Apologies for the length, but some posters refuse to read the links.

I read the link before and I have read it again now....so?

You have Lance admitting he has ownership - you have Bill saying he believed Lance got ownership in 2004.

Then we have Lances lawyer Tim Herman trying to tell us that Lance only received some ownership in December 2007........ 5 months after Tailwind announced they would not be looking for a replacement sponsor for Discovery.

 

[miloman]

Read the account of Popo being served. Can you imagine if he was an American and he was in a foriegn country and it went down like this? It would have become an international incident. No wonder Americans are so loved across the pond. Seems a bit heavy handed!

 

[Susan Westemeyer]

Arent you allowed a legal representative with you in a GJ?

No.

http://www.abanet.org/media/faqjury.html

Susan

 

[thehog]

Read the account of Popo being served. Can you imagine if he was an American and he was in a foriegn country and it went down like this? It would have become an international incident. No wonder Americans are so loved across the pond. Seems a bit heavy handed!

Just like our good friend Armstrong leaving a trail of drugs across Europe. Young cyclists and kids can look up to Lance for making Europe a more beautiful place. These guys deserve everything they get.

 

[joe_papp]

If Novitzy is so big on the rule of law he will drive Landis to the airport and get him to France asap...

Since when does being big on the rule of law necessitate enforcing extra-territorially the laws of other nations? Actually, if Novitzky is big on the rule of law, w/ respect to Landis, he'll leave him be regarding the France case, until there's a valid extradition order.

 

[TubularBills]

Must be a quiet day in the offices of CN. But then again, if you look at most news stories published by this UK run site, it comes as no surprise that the journalism is merely gutter press with a huge anti Lance slant, buy hey, the English probably are as resentful as the French due to there lack of cycling success.

Cavendish?

 

[kurtinsc]

Cavendish?

Is he English? British? A Manxman?

I get confused with how the various parts of the UK refer to themselves.

 

[L'arriviste]

Is he English? British? A Manxman?

I get confused with how the various parts of the UK refer to themselves.

He is a Manxman and a British citizen: the Isle of Man is a part of the British Isles that together, ruled by the queen, represent the United Kingdom.

 

[avanti]

Read the account of Popo being served. Can you imagine if he was an American and he was in a foriegn country and it went down like this? It would have become an international incident. No wonder Americans are so loved across the pond. Seems a bit heavy handed!

I bet Popo thought he was back in Soviet controlled Ukraine (of course it is difficult to believe much of media coverage these days).

 

[smoking roach]

CN is reporting Popo was once again dragging around a peleton of Feds http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/feds-surprised-popovych-at-armstrong-fundraiser - shades of USPS days!

What a cheesy article, sensational BS journalisim. Does CN routinely drop these tabloid press bites?

Popo told the Feds to meet him at the hotel and that's what they did. Big Deal! That's one boring action script!

 

[Race Radio]

What a cheesy article, sensational BS journalisim. Does CN routinely drop these tabloid press bites?

Popo told the Feds to meet him at the hotel and that's what they did. Big Deal! That's one boring action script!

It is a total BS story. The guy who wrote it, Littman, has been after Novtizy for a decade. Using him as a source would be as absurd as letting Blutto write a story about LeMond

 

[MacRoadie]

I suppose Ukrainians are on the mental level of Neanderthals. Does he go to a cave for a vacation?

I was kinda wondering that myself. "Gee Ken, don't do me any favors on the image front."

Maybe Popo should hire THIS guy:

 

[Oldman]

What a cheesy article, sensational BS journalisim. Does CN routinely drop these tabloid press bites?

Popo told the Feds to meet him at the hotel and that's what they did. Big Deal! That's one boring action script!

LA and his folks are going to wage war any way they can. Bending the truth is a standard political tool. Like Lance.

 

[JMBeaushrimp]

LA and his folks are going to wage war any way they can. Bending the truth is a standard political tool. Like Lance.

I agree. Lance is a tool.