US prosecutors drop case against Armstrong/USPS

[MacRoadie]

Goober has stated they have loads of stuff on Rock Racing but little on Lance. Both what NPR and Goober are saying can sit with each other comfortably without being contradictory unless Lance truly was the focus.

So why no charges/indictments against Rock Racing's pricipals, including Mike Ball? He's a bigger sleazeball than Lance (see his last run in with the Feds), and the charges would stem from much more recent criminal activity...

 

[BotanyBay]

Wether it's NPR or the WSJ, no-name sources are lame. It most cases it's bird dogging trying flush the pray or evidence. To me it is sign that the evidence is weak like a real s***** attack during Cat. 3 club race.

NPR rarely mentions cycling culture at all. So why now? Because soneone knew someone that knew something newsworthy. Sure, it'd be easy to accuse a cycling-related media outlet with fabricating a source, but seriously, NPR doesn't really have a dog in this race. I listen to NPR a lot on my way to work, and never expect to even hear anything about cycling (even post-Friday). It's so FAR off of their radar screen.

Nice try though.

 

[ChrisE]

So why no charges/indictments against Rock Racing's pricipals, including Mike Ball? He's a bigger sleazeball than Lance (see his last run in with the Feds), and the charges would stem from much more recent criminal activity...

Really? Yikes!

Welcome to the fanboy side.

 

[eleven]

I cant, you are not privy to the investigation.

so when you said that all ten testified to something, you didn't mean all ten testified to something? OK then.

 

[BotanyBay]

So why no charges/indictments against Rock Racing's pricipals, including Mike Ball? He's a bigger sleazeball than Lance (see his last run in with the Feds), and the charges would stem from much more recent criminal activity...

Beneficiary of being part of the same case. There was no extricating Lance from the situation, so in the interest of Lan, um, er JUSTICE, the entire tomato was dropped.

 

[MacRoadie]

how could you not trust someone named goober

An excellent question.

 

[BotanyBay]

I'm willing to bet $ that Lance found a way to transmit a "ha ha" to Alberto after yesterday's announcement. Maybe he sent a box of Omaha Steaks.

 

[MacRoadie]

Really? Yikes!

Welcome to the fanboy side.

Saying Michael Ball is a bigger sleazeball than anyone is no great stretch...

 

[Polish]

Now that the Feds have stopped wasting taxpayer money on THEIR investigation, we can move onto the USADA and WADA.

Who's money are THEY wasting?

 

[Race Radio]

So why no charges/indictments against Rock Racing's pricipals, including Mike Ball? He's a bigger sleazeball than Lance (see his last run in with the Feds), and the charges would stem from much more recent criminal activity...

Don't worry, Goober says they are coming. Healthnet too. It will all happen just after Thanksgiving of 2011..err, 2012, or something like that

 

[BotanyBay]

Now that the Feds have stopped wasting taxpayer money on THEIR investigation, we can move onto the USADA and WADA.

Who's money are THEY wasting?

No. I want to get to the bottom of why the Feds wasted our money. When you spend two years investigating, involving dozens of human resources and millions of dollars, and drag it out over such a long period of time, either the subjects are really innocent, or the investigators are really inept. I prefer to know which, regardless of the outcome. If I'm wrong about Armstrong, I truly want to know it for certain.

I want to know the results of the post-mortem. Something needs to get fixed here. Of course, the fanboys are still on here saying "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". As an admitted hater, I want to know who to hate now.

 

[BotanyBay]

I have to say, this Goober character seems to have more inside info on what has happened than anyone else on here including RR. The only thing I dont understand is if they have so much information about Rock Racing, why did they shut it down even if they couldnt nail Armstrong. If Armstrong wasnt the target, what was the whole point.

I also had a look at what Matt DeCanio had to say and it would seem that even if this goes to USADA it might not go too far with Travis Tygart involved.

http://www.stolenunderground.com/

Right now I see nothing coming out of this other than a few US based riders getting busted.

Goober predicted something "big" on Thanksgiving. But was so vague, that he could easily go back and say "see, SEE, told ya so" no matter what the outcome. Everyone is being had on this line of interest. When you say nothing, anything you say canbe considered the truth.

 

[ChrisE]

Goober has everybody worked up.

 

[LarryBudMelman]

Correct. This is the priviledge of the executive branch. If you can afford access to the upper-echelons of the Obama administration, you can get away with a crime (no doubt). Your acces can make your case just "go away".

But just like Holder is on the hot seat regarding "Fast & Furious", it is possible that he will soon be on the hot-seat for the Armstrong case. It sounds like there is/was enough public interest in the case's outcome that people are starting to say "huh?". With a 40-minute piece on 60 Minutes and a slew of other recent media bombshells, people won't just casually accept a closing of this case. Perhaps a year ago, but certainly not now. Fabiani must have worked some extraordinary kung-fu in the last month.

The fact that NPR hopped-on so early means (to me) that the kettle is starting to boil.

And what of Outside, Sports Illustrated and 60 Minutes? They end up looking like a bunch of retards with this outcome. Don't expect them to just roll over and die without a serious examination of why this huge "non-event" came to be a non-event.

Nope, influence peddling IS corruption. I disagree with both you and RR there. Whether it's cash payments or political capital, it is corruption.

 

[Race Radio]

The spin continues

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ught-information-on-probe-leak-complaint.html

This is funny. Back when Goober was saying this was all going to be dropped Armstrong's legal team was trying every trick in the book to distract investigators, including filing a complaint about "Leaks".

The FBI did their job and investigated these "Leaks". As expected they called Lance's lawyers to ask them about the leaks.....and this is news why exactly?

 

[thehog]

The spin continues

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ught-information-on-probe-leak-complaint.html

This is funny. Back when Goober was saying this was all going to be dropped Armstrong's legal team was trying every trick in the book to distract investigators, including filing a complaint about "Leaks".

The FBI did their job and investigated these "Leaks". As expected they called Lance's lawyers to ask them about the leaks.....and this is news why exactly?

Bloomberg to boot as well!

I think the idea is to suggest the investigation and process was "loose".

 

[BotanyBay]

Nope, influence peddling IS corruption. I disagree with both you and RR there. Whether it's cash payments or political capital, it is corruption.

I agree with you, but what I mean is that there will be no smoking gun.

There was a great 60 Minutes segment on Abramoff a few months ago. He spoke about how easy it was to "buy" a Senate staff member (the people who actually frame the policy for the Senator)... And they never knew they were being bought. Because they weren't, really.

He'd call up a staffer for a certain senator. Tell them that if they ever got tired of working for so-and-so, that they should ring him up and triple their salary by coming and working for him. Then he'd just sit and wait. They'd come to HIM. They offered the deals for clients of his, offering him more and more freebies for his friends and clients. And every so often, one of these staffers would take him up on the offer to come work for him. Just a cost of doing biz. They usually generated far more value in favors to Abramoff's clients than they ever got back in return through a tripled salary.

The influence is never bought directly. Fabiani now owes a few favors in Washington (which he'll gladly provide when the time comes). If any of you think that guys like this walk around with suitcases full of cash, then you don't understand the subtleties of the game. And they are oh-so-subtle. Remember the concept of scale. These people are in a class way above those of the rest of us. They deal with 90,000 foot views, not 30,000 foot. A phone call or lunch with people at this level results in them going back to the office, making a simple call and mountains get moved. Hints are dropped in subtle ways with certain underlings and desired results are accomplished (quickly).

Look at the former US Atty for Arizona. He lost his job during the Bush administration. He didn't take a subtle hint. It cost him his job.

 

[BotanyBay]

The spin continues

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ught-information-on-probe-leak-complaint.html

This is funny. Back when Goober was saying this was all going to be dropped Armstrong's legal team was trying every trick in the book to distract investigators, including filing a complaint about "Leaks".

The FBI did their job and investigated these "Leaks". As expected they called Lance's lawyers to ask them about the leaks.....and this is news why exactly?

kgullo@bloomberg.net

Someone who owed Fabiani a favor. And round and round we go.

 

[Polish]

No. I want to get to the bottom of why the Feds wasted our money. When you spend two years investigating, involving dozens of human resources and millions of dollars, and drag it out over such a long period of time, either the subjects are really innocent, or the investigators are really inept. I prefer to know which, regardless of the outcome. If I'm wrong about Armstrong, I truly want to know it for certain.

I want to know the results of the post-mortem. Something needs to get fixed here. Of course, the fanboys are still on here saying "pay no attention to the man behind the curtain". As an admitted hater, I want to know who to hate now.

I too would like to understand. It would be a meaty "investigative story" to get to the bottom of it.

Of course, it would have to be an outfit that was not involved with the leaks in the first place. That would rule out WSJ/60Mins/SI/SundayTimes/EtcEtcEtc.

Maybe Bloomberg News could do a good job?

 

[BotanyBay]

I too would like to understand. It would be a meaty "investigative story" to get to the bottom of it.

Of course, it would have to be an outfit that was not involved with the leaks in the first place. That would rule out WSJ/60Mins/SI/SundayTimes/EtcEtcEtc.

Maybe Bloomberg News could do a good job?

Careful what you wish for. It just might happen.

 

[pedaling squares]

When you spend two years investigating, involving dozens of human resources and millions of dollars, and drag it out over such a long period of time, either the subjects are really innocent, or the investigators are really inept.

It's not that simple, BB. An alternate theory may be that the investigators did their jobs properly and uncovered sufficient evidence to file an indictment, but the AG didn't like his chances of securing convictions. And that, unfortunately, depends on far more than just evidence. There is also the potential of political interference. I'm not saying this happened, but it's equally, or more, likely than innocence.

 

[Grilled]

doesn't it just make you burn?

I can't help but clench my teeth at this past week....we know they were both charged up to the gills, but to see Pharmstrong skate and Contador sink is disgusting. Just disgusting.

I hope against hope Tygart takes up the fight and brings the truth to light. The world needs to know about fraud boy.

 

[pmcg76]

For all those people moaning about how nobody cares and its in the past so leave it there.

We now have Jan Ullrich coming up for sanctioning this week, almost 6 years after he left the sport never to return, well he was basically blacklisted.

If its good for the goose etc.

 

[BotanyBay]

It's not that simple, BB. An alternate theory may be that the investigators did their jobs properly and uncovered sufficient evidence to file an indictment, but the AG didn't like his chances of securing convictions. And that, unfortunately, depends on far more than just evidence. There is also the potential of political interference. I'm not saying this happened, but it's equally, or more, likely than innocence.

You don't wait 2 years for the quality evidence. You get your evidence and then plan your next steps. If you get 2 years in, and you don;t know if your evidence is high-qual yet, then you're inept.

 

[Polish]

The spin continues

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-...ught-information-on-probe-leak-complaint.html

This is funny. Back when Goober was saying this was all going to be dropped Armstrong's legal team was trying every trick in the book to distract investigators, including filing a complaint about "Leaks".

The FBI did their job and investigated these "Leaks". As expected they called Lance's lawyers to ask them about the leaks.....and this is news why exactly?

Now one has to wonder if the results from the FBI "Investigation into Leaks" was one of the reasons the HWMNBN investigation was scrapped.

There were so many "according to un-named sources close to the investigation" stories that the FBI had to be very busy. Took time.

The one that bothered me the most was when someone leaked the "worry about riders talking" was unfounded - the tough part was having them "talk without crying" too much.

What a mean leak! Mean to make them cry too.