Lance Armstrong on $100 million fraud lawsuit against him: 'We like our case'
"We like our case ... we are confident in the case," Armstrong said on the "Joe Rogan Experience" podcast published Tuesday.
Rogan asked Armstrong details about the ongoing case against him.
"You are accused of defrauding the federal government," Rogan said, "and because you were riding for the US Postal Service and you won X amount of money during that the time, they can sue you for three times that money ...
"How's that one going?" Rogan asked.
"You know, honestly, that's the only active case," Armstrong said, "so that one does get a little trickier to talk about, just because I don't want to get crushed by lawyers, but we like our case. We think that - we are confident in the case. We believe that the Postal Service - while none of this story is perfect - we believe that the Postal Service - and their numbers support it.
"I mean, the Postal Service commissioned three separate studies to analyze the effect of the sponsorship on the team. We believe they made hundreds of millions of dollars. And we know they were also using the team as a sales vehicle, during the Tour, bringing over potential new clients ... They were actually converting new business to the Postal Service. And we know that equaled a significant increase in revenue. So we like our case.
"At this point, would I like to have all legal issues out of my life? Yes. But settlement's not an option, and so we just have to fall back on what we think is the strength of the case.
"I'm not a lawyer ... but it's a 'qui tam' case, which is a false-claims case, and I think it's one that our side shares - it's about damages. Was the Postal Service damaged? And what can we prove to be the damages? If there are no damages, then I would like to think there is no case. But it is what it is. The federal government is interested, the Department of Justice is interested in the case, and I have no choice but to fight it. After the dozen previous lawsuits, I'm not in a position to really cut any more checks, so I'm in a position where I have to fight this one out."
Asked how he earns a living now, Armstrong said he still gives paid speeches and makes other appearances. He said he has investments that "help ease that pain."
"But who knows what the future holds," Armstrong said.
He still owns multimillion-dollar properties in Austin, Texas, and Aspen, Colorado.
Armstrong declined to comment for this story.
You can watch the full podcast below (the part about the case begins about 1:14):