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FEDERAL INVESTIGATORS ARE in the middle of a criminal investigation of former Tour de France champion Lance Armstrong, ABC News reports.
“Agents are actively investigating Armstrong for obstruction, witness tampering and intimidation,” a high level source told ABC.
Yesterday, US Attorney for Southern California André Birotte—who spent nearly two years investigating Armstrong before closing the probe without filing charges — told Reuters that Armstrong’s public admission of doping “does not change my view at this time.”
But the ABC source said that ”Birotte does not speak for the federal government as a whole,” adding that the new investigation is being run out of another office. Agents involved in Birotte’s probe — which looked in charges including drug distribution, fraud and conspiracy — recommended an indictment, but the case was dropped on the Friday before the Super Bowl last year.
The evidence gathered during that investigation was used by US anti-doping officials in a damning report, which prompted Armstrong’s confession. Legal experts said that the admission exposed Armstrong to possible charges of perjury or obstruction of justice.
Investigators are now examining accounts of how Armstrong bullied and intimidated associates, including taking legal action, to conceal his doping over more than a decade. The Telegraph notes that if Federal authorities decide to prosecute, Armstrong could face jail time.
