Armstrong engaged in an "unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy"

                                                                   Lance Armstrong

Lance Armstrong has been fined $10million (€8.7m) for lying about his use of performance-enhancing drugs following an arbitration panel hearing into his case with SCA Promotions.

Dallas-based SCA Promotions was forced to pay Armstrong $7.5m in 2006 after an arbitration process over disputed payments relating to his seven Tour de France victories.

However, Armstrong has since admitted to doping in all seven of his Tour wins and was found to have lied in proceedings, leading to the payout.

A statement from SCA Promotions read: “Lance Armstrong was hit with a record-breaking 10million-dollar sanctions award by the arbitration panel hearing his dispute with Dallas-based SCA Promotions, Inc.

“According to the arbitrators’ written ruling, the sanctions award punishes Armstrong for engaging in ’an unparalleled pageant of international perjury, fraud and conspiracy’.

“The 10 million-dollar award, which must be paid directly to SCA Promotions, is believed to be the largest award of sanctions assessed against an individual in American judicial history.

“The award was made public today when SCA Promotions filed a motion with a Dallas state district court to have the award confirmed into a judgement against Armstrong.”

The case - one of a number of legal matters Armstrong has faced since his confession - is not concluded, though.

“SCA’s dispute with Armstrong is not over,” the statement continued.

“It has a currently pending lawsuit in Dallas state district court where it is pursuing additional claims against Lance Armstrong and Bill Stapleton (Armstrong’s agent).”

Armstrong testified himself in the proceedings, which took place almost 10 years after the initial hearing in which he gave evidence under oath.

The statement added: “Armstrong swore under oath on numerous occasions in that proceeding that he had never used performance-enhancing drugs during his career. Given that sworn testimony, SCA Promotions settled the matter for $7.5 million in 2006.

“Armstrong later confessed in 2013 that he had cheated during every Tour de France race that he had won. He also acknowledged that he had committed perjury during his dispute with SCA Promotions.

“As a result, SCA re-convened the arbitration proceeding and sought to sanction Armstrong based on his prior wrongful conduct.

“After an evidentiary hearing, the arbitrators found that Armstrong had ’used perjury and other wrongful conduct to secure millions of dollars of benefits’ from SCA Promotions.

“According to the arbitrators, Armstrong’s wrongful conduct was not limited to perjury. In addition to committing ’perjury on every issue’ in the case, the arbitrators also found that Armstrong ’intimidated and pressured other witnesses to lie’ and even ’used a false personal and emotional appeal to perpetuate’ his lies.

“While Armstrong acknowledged during the hearing that he was untruthful about his prior cheating, the arbitrators found that he ’expressed no remorse to the panel for his wrongful conduct’.”

SCA Promotions president and founder Bob Hamman said: “It is hard to describe how much harm Lance Armstrong’s web of lies caused SCA but this is a good first start towards repairing that damage.”

SCA Promotions’ lawyer Jeff Tillotson added: “This record-breaking award was justified given Armstrong’s outrageous conduct.”

Tillotson added that Armstrong’s lies were deemed to have continued.

“The panel of arbitrators determined that Armstrong ’continued to lie to the panel throughout the final hearing even while admitting to prior falsehoods and other wrongful conduct,” Tillotson said.

Matt McGeehan