AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ A Texas judge is pushing Lance Armstrong closer to his first sworn testimony on details of his performance-enhancing drug use, ordering the cyclist to answer questions about who knew what and when about his doping.
That could possibly even include information about his ex-wife and attorneys.
Nebraska-based Acceptance Insurance Holdings is seeking the information in its lawsuit to recover $3 million in bonuses it paid Armstrong from 1999 to 2001. A judge previously refused to dismiss the case.
The company is trying to prove a yearslong conspiracy and cover-up by Armstrong to commit fraud. It wants to know when several of Armstrong’s personal and business associates _ including ex-wife Kristin Armstrong, team officials, the cyclist’s lawyers and International Cycling Union President Pat McQuaid _ first learned of his doping.
Armstrong’s attorneys say Acceptance is engaged in a “fishing expedition” intended to “make a spectacle of Armstrong’s doping.”