News
Road

Landis moves on after repayment plan agreed

published 24 August 2012

Must pay Fairness Fund donations back within three years

Comments

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

July 2002 and Lance Armstrong has won his 4th Tour de France. Then teammate Floyd Landis leads the party in Paris (Image credit: Tim de Waele/TDWSport.com)

Floyd Landis agreed to repay almost half a million dollars he fraudulently raised for the purpose of challenging doping charges related to his Tour de France race in 2006. Landis won the race but was later stripped of the title after testing positive for testosterone.

USADA responds on UCI jurisdiction, Landis evidence

Landis to repay Fairness Fund donations to avoid jail time

If Landis fails to repay donations which he raised under the Floyd Fairness banner within a three-year period, he could face up to 20 years in prison.

According to the AP, Landis admitted receiving $478,354 from 1,765 donors.

"I can never undo what happened," he told reporters. "I can never undo having lied to people but if, in some small way, making restitution helps them to forgive me, then that's a small step in the right direction," Landis said.

The Floyd Fairness fund was created in 2007. Landis and his associates set up meetings across the country and auctioned a signed jersey and other materials. Landis also wrote a book called Positively False: The Real Story of How I Won the Tour de France, in which he argued his innocence.

According to AP, the 14-page agreement with prosecutors caps restitution at 50 percent of Landis' annual income, if he makes at least $200,000. Payments would be limited to five percent of his annual income if he makes less than $50,000.

Upon leaving the hearing Landis said, “I'm looking forward to the future. It doesn't involve cycling.”