The U.S. Anti-Doping Agency said Thursday night it will strip Lance Armstrong of his unprecedented seven Tour de France titles after he declared he was finished fighting the drug charges that threaten his legacy as one of the greatest cyclists of all time.

via Lance Armstrong Won’t Fight Doping Charges; USADA Aims To Strip Him Of Tour De France Titles.

So here’s a question: Will USPS and the Justice Department try to recoup the $32 Million (or portions of it) that it paid t the Lance Armstrong cycling team?

Court documents  last year showed that  USPS paid almost $32 million for a four-year sponsorship from 2001-2004:

The U.S Postal Service spent $31.9 million to underwrite Lance Armstrong’s pro cycling team during its glory years of 2001 to 2004, approximately 60 to 65 percent of the team’s total budget, according to documents newly obtained from the agency under the federal Freedom of Information Act.

The materials provide the first clear look at how heavily the agency invested in Armstrong and reveal the exact dollar amounts at issue should Armstrong and former team officials be charged with fraudulent use of government funds at the conclusion of an ongoing federal investigation.

Until now, the USPS has gone to great lengths to keep the precise amount it spent on Armstrong a secret. In 2003, the agency’s Office of the Inspector General issued an audit report that was highly critical of the deal but blacked-out specific sponsorship amounts.

As recently as last summer, when a federal grand jury in Los Angeles began hearing testimony from ex-members of Armstrong’s team, Postal Service officials continued to be tight-lipped about their sponsorship, responding to a Freedom of Information Act request by The File with heavily redacted documents.

 

However, since 1996 the postal service had been the title sponsor of the Pro-Cycling Team owned and managed by Tailwind Sports, so the figure is much higher.