Justice Department Joins Suit Against Lance Armstrong

Novel way to try to snag some more revenue for the United States Postal Service

The Department of Justice has decided to join a lawsuit against Lance Armstrong and several associates that accuses them of using taxpayer money to finance doping on the United States Postal Service cycling team, according to a lawyer for Armstrong.

Armstrong is named as a defendant in a federal whistle-blower case filed in 2010 by Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former teammates. The suit claims that Armstrong and his associates defrauded the government by allowing doping on the United States Postal Service team when doping was explicitly forbidden in the sponsorship contract.

Armstrong admitted to using performance-enhancing drugs during his cycling career in an interview with Oprah Winfrey last month. He had already been stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and given a lifetime ban from Olympic sports as a result of an investigation by the United States Anti-Doping Agency.