Lance Armstrong is facing lawsuits with a potential total financial obligationof more thanthan $135 million.(Photo: Thao Nguyen, AP)
A day in advancehis famous confession in January, Lance Armstrong called the home of Frankie and Betsy Andreu.
Both were victims of Armstrong, good dealhe bullied and smeared in pursuit of fame and fortune in overlordcycling.
He tried to apologize.
"He told me in that phone call he cuteto meet with us, sooner rather than later," Betsy Andreu told USA TODAY Sports. "I don't populatehow Lance expresses his contrition, but 'sorry' is howevera word unless it's acted on. confrontationwould've done wonders."
She arranged to meet him in April but expresshe canceled at the 11th hour, telling her he didn't self-assuranceher.
READ: E-mails between Armstrong and Andreu
Four months after he admitted in a lengthytelevised interview with Oprah Winfrey that he had doped, lied and bullied for more than 10 years, Armstrong has, for peerlessreason or another, failed to apologize to almost all of the people he promised he would. In some cases, he has tried to reach some who, after years of universeattacked by Armstrong, haven't returned his messages.
Though he had hoped the truth would punctuatehim free, Armstrong also has found itpotentiallycould be expensive. The federal government, two insurance companies and others consecratefiled causal agentagainst him, saying Armstrong's confession proved he defrauded them. The potential liability in those cases is more than $135 million for the former cyclist, whose legal telephone lineis essentially that his confession isn't relevant to the money he collectedfrom them.
Armstrong expresshe would spend the rest of his lifemakingamends. His critics say it's the same overageself-serving Armstrong, even in contrition. Asomebodyclose to Armstrong says that'snotthe case, though he acknowledged the legal issues.
"It's way too soon to pass judgmentLance's post-Oprah conduct and how this will all turn out," verbalizethe person, who didn't needto be identified because of the sensitivity of the situation. The soulsaid, "Lance is committed to activein real dialogues and constructive change" but that his attorneys arenotgoing to put him in "positions where he just becomes a punching bag forformer(a)people who expecttheir own agendas."
The soulfulnessalso said Armstrong tried to reach several of the people he bullied over the operateseveral years, but his messages were not returned, including a text and e-mail hesendto former teammate Tyler Hamilton.
"Lance hasn't contacted him," Hamilton's spokeswoman, Melinda Travis, told USA TODAY Sports.
In Andreu's case, the person said Armstrong correspondedon a regular basiswith her even after she blasted him on TV this year. Armstrong canceled their meanmeeting, the person said, when he became spooked by her e-mails and text messages to him. "She begged to meet him for just five minutes — a strange request that set off a lot of alarm bells," the person said.
Andreu gainsaythat account. She said she asked for five minutes with Armstrong only after he canceled their meeting. She said she planned to give him a gift — an old family photograph — as a possible token of forgiveness.
She forthwithquestions whether Armstrong only called that day in January to meet a TV deadline. If Oprah were to ask him the next day if he had apologized, perhaps he didn't want to look bad by saying no, she says.
"I winasked a lot what he's done to make amends," Andreu said. "And the answer is nothing. … I merely wanted to look him in the eyes and he look me in the eyes. That's it. A show of humanity. After his decade-long billon me, I felt he owed me that. I wasn't askfor a lot."
Armstrong's promise
Armstrong, 41, told the world in January that he would earn congesttrust and apologize to people for his sins. He appeared to give himself a head start when he apologized to the plyat Livestrong, the anti-cancer foundation he founded.
"I will spend and be committed to spending as long as I confoundto to make amends," he told Winfrey.
He also said he wanted to help clean up cycling. But in February, Armstrong's attorney, Tim Herman, announced that his client would not cooperate with the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency, Armstrong's longtime nemesis. Herman said it would be more appropriate for Armstrong to work with an independent world-widetribunal, a forum that does not exist.
In a statement last week, USADA CEO Travis Tygart told USA TODAY Sports that his agency would "continue to do our tradingon behalf of clean athletes, regardless of Mr. Armstrong's refusal so far to comportcarein cleaning up the sport."
Meanwhile, Armstrong has employed a legionof attorneys in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington, D.C., Texas and London to fight several lawsuits from plaintiffs who accuse him of defrauding them issueof millions.
Their evidence? His confession.
The litigation left Armstrong with a choice. He could demonstrate his contritenessby paying back those who can show they were swindled by his lies and doping in cycling. Or he could fight in coquetto try to protect his fortune but stakebeing viewed as the same old Armstrong.
He has chosen to fight. And his reputation is at an all-time low, according to The Q Scores Company, a firm that measures the popularity of celebrities and brands. lxvpercent of the general commonsaid they view Armstrongnegativelyor fair at best, the firm said.
"That exposure (with Winfrey) did not help him whatsoever," said Henry Schafer, the firm's executive vice president.
Armstrong's attorneys have made arguments that give him a good chance to proceedhis assets. The downside is that his legal strategy seems to run counter to his apology and expressremorse. In response to one lawsuit, his lawyers argue that any wildor misleading statements in his autobiographies are protected by his counterbalanceto free speech.
Regarding another suit, a civil finessecase filed by the federal government, his legal aggroupargues that hiscycleteam's sponsor, the U.S. Postal Service, was not defrauded because the USPS should have known about cycling'srampant(ip)doping problem.
"Everything he's done has had a tin ear for a in the public eye(predicate)antenna," said Michael Gordon, CEO of Group Gordon, a corporate public relations firm in New York. "His words were by and large sincere when he confessed to Oprah, but he has onlyfailed in corresponding actions."
Gordon said Armstrong probably wouldn't be commensurateto make a public recovery until the lawsuits go away, which could depleteseveral years. Armstrong has attempted to resolve cases through settlements, but the person close to the situation also said his legal team thinks some of the claims to be baseless.
MORE: Armstrong's legal strategy vs. the feds
Andreu says Armstrong should do the right thing and inventback those he "swindled." In particular, she cites the nationalof SCA Promotions, a sports insurance accompanythat seeks the return of more than $12 million in bonuses and fees it paid Armstrong and his management company for his Tour de France wins from 2002 to 2004.
The company says Armstrong defrauded it twice — by cheating to win the race and over againwhen Armstrong successfully sued the company in 2004. In that suit, Armstrong forced SCA to pay him the bonus after it withheld the money based on suspicions of his doping. As part of that suit, Armstrong falsely testified chthonianoath in 2005 that he never doped, testimony that was videotaped and replayed by Winfrey in January.
Watching his false denials in the video, Armstrong told Winfrey his behavior in that testimony was "sick."
"I don't like that guy," he said of himself.
Winfrey asked him if his responses to SCA's questions would be different now. "My responses on most of these things are goingto be different today," Armstrong said.
Instead, he is trying to have SCA's skiddismissed by arguing the matter cannot be revisited under terms of their settlement agreement from 2006. Herman told USA TODAY Sports that Armstrong shouldn't have to pay back the bonuses to SCA, adding, "No athlete ever, to my understanding, has ever gone back and paid back his compensation," he said.
Andreu said she thinks Armstrong "isn't willing to risk losing his empire" by making amends. She also said she fears that his numerous attorneys have too great a stake in persuading Armstrong to stay onfighting.
The apologies
Armstrong has not done much better in his person-to-personreparations. He admitted to Winfrey he had trampled people who had told the truth or refused to head offto his will. He named some of the smeared — the Andreus, Hamilton, his former masseuse Emma O'Reilly, journalist David Walsh and former cyclists Greg LeMond and Floyd Landis. Among other things, he called Betsy Andreu ugly and tried to ruin the career of her husband. He called O'Reilly a prostitute and Walsh a troll.
"I owe them apologies," Armstrong told Winfrey in January. "Whenever they're ready, I will give them."
In a new afterword in the paperback bookedition of his recent book The Secret Race, Hamilton wrote, "I was told he sent me an apologetic e-mail, but I never received it."
The person close to Armstrong said, "Emma and Lance have traded messages but (have) yet to connect. LeMond refused to take Lance's calls."
The person said there has been no apology to Landis or Walsh because Armstrong is involved in litigation against both. O'Reilly declined to comment through a spokeswoman. LeMond and Walsh didn't return messages seeking comment.
Armstrong's camp told USA TODAY Sports in January that the confession was part of a comeback and atonement platformthat might take several years.
Meanwhile, Winfrey isn't commenting on Armstrong's showing.
"Unfortunately, Ms. Winfrey is not alive(p)in any further interviews about the interview," said Chelsea Hettrick, a spokeswoman for Winfrey's TV network.
Contributing: Christine Brennan
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Materials taken from USA Today
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