Armstrong SCA Deposition Videos

Leaked video! Not a sex tape

Update 3/17: Now the entire deposition is available here.

Now that we’ve gained a reputation for being a cycling WikiLeaks, strange things show up on our doorstep. These clips of Lance Armstrong’s SCA deposition came to us from a Tristan Zook of the firm of Grey Manrod Associates. According to Mr. Zook, these videos are fair game because Mr. Armstrong forfeited any claims of confidentiality by bragging about winning the SCA case in the media. 

First, some context. Tailwind Sports had taken out an insurance policy with SCA Promotions to cover a $5 million performance bonus for Armstrong winning the 2004 Tour. However, when David Walsh and Pierre Ballester’s book L.A. Confidentiel came out, SCA refused to pay, claiming that Armstrong voided the contract by doping to win. The trial pitted the LeMonds and the Andreus against Armstrong, Ed Coyle and Michael Ashenden testified as expert witnesses for and against Armstrong. The arbitrator eventually ruled in favor of Armstrong and Tailwind Sports on the grounds that the contract between them had no stipulations about doping, rendering most of the testimony in the trial moot. Armstrong would claim the judgment a vindication despite the fact that it had nothing to do with doping.

So why did SCA CEO Bob Hamman, a champion contract bridge player, press on quixotically despite having an unwinnable case (the settlement would cost him an additional $2.5 million in interest and fees)? Did he simply want to air Armstrong’s dirty laundry out of spite? Or did he think that he’d recoup his money someday if, say, the DOJ were to launch an investigation? One thing is for sure: the SCA trial galvanized the pro and anti Armstrong camps, setting the stage for the battle that still rages on today. For example, Betsy Andreu, while no fan of Armstrong, had refused to cooperate for L.A. Confidentiel, and was forced to testify in the SCA case. Armstrong called Andreu a liar in the trial, thereby making her one of his most outspoken critics. She would go on to cooperate with Walsh for his next book, From Lance to Landis.

So here are the clips from Armstrong’s deposition in the case, obviously edited by someone prejudiced against Armstrong. Depending on your perspective, they either show someone speaking the truth or committing perjury. 

Clip #1 is Armstrong discussing Frankie Andreu’s deposition. Fun historical tidbit: Armstrong had shown up for the Andreu’s depositions, intending on sitting in on Frankie’s session. The order was reversed, however, and he ended up attending Betsy’s session instead. The attempted intimidation backfired.

In the first part of the clip the questioner is reading from a transcript of a conversation that took place at the ’04 Tour, where Armstrong agent Bill Stapleton and friend Bart Knaggs spoke with Frankie in an attempt to ascertain whether Betsy was interviewed for L.A. Confidentiel. They also attempted to get Betsy to sign a statement to discredit Walsh.

 

Clip #2 and #3 are titled ‘LA Logic’ by Mr. Zook.

Clip #4, Armstrong knew Betsy Andreu very little, she hates him.

Clip #5, on why Frankie would agree with Betsy.

Clip #6. Armstrong took the unusual step of contacting Stephanie McIlvain, Frankie Andreu, and James Startt before their depositions. In Andreu’s case, Armstrong contacted him after a 2 1/2 year silence to warn Andreu that his doctor Craig Nichols would testify that the hospital room incident never happened, in contradiction to what Armstrong believed Andreu would attest to. Armstrong is asked about his contact with Andreu here.

Clip #7, Armstrong is asked about his contact with McIlvain before her deposition. He claims they spoke of her cancer stricken neighbor and nothing more.

Clip #8, the oath.

Last clip, Armstrong is asked why he contacted Frankie Andreu.

I guess this was inevitable. The music video.

80 Comments

awwwww

Poor lad gets torched on here for being a Lance fan. Classic nyvelocity stuff. Wrong place for you to be exploring, champ. He was right about one thing though—racing in NYC does suck.

Matteo Dropout

Any body language experts out there. Shaking his head while talking (lie) nodding while talking (truth), a lot of chin scratching, nose scratching going on. Looking to the right before answering (lying). Tim Roth would have a field day.

Ethan Neck

We have nothing to hide,”
“We have nothing to run from. It’s our word against his word. I like our word. We like our credibility.”

Baptiste Threadlock

Who is this Mr. Andrew asshole? It sounds like he’s been messing around with Betsie. Frankie should beat his ass!

MQ

So if we’re the wikileaks of cycling. who is julian assange. does this mean that Dan at some point is going to be forced to live in Jersey? and be under house arrest at his big state. (the compound).
and yes people ive seen the compound,

700x25

Stunned to actually see this considering how much has been made of these interviews.
Love the Wiki Leaks of cycling reference.

Seatpost

When asked direct questions that can harm him he gets agitated and does not immediately answer. (lie) When asked a direct question, the why Mcllvain called question, he answers immediately “correct”. (truth) But then, I ain’t no expert, just watch a lot of TV.

Sacha Cage

As a behavioral expert, trained by years of having to answer to my wife, I’d have to say the body language in clip #6 reveals a liar swimming in a steaming pile of dookie.

His media training since then has gotten much better.

Botany Bay

Clip 5, 00:30 is precious.

You don’t even need a polygraph to see the lie. Think back to any lie you’ve ever told to your mom with a straight face and see how that face wasn’t really “straight” at all. She knew you were lying the whole time.

Botany Bay

Betsy, you’re always our favorite “Old Lady”. 😉

He had to go and do it. Now I have this image of you on the back of a Harley with a Hells Angel at the helm.

Floyd - not null and void

I hate what’s happened to Floyd. Sure, he lied like the rest of them for a few years. But he’s finally come clean and is speaking the truth…and cycling shuns him. That sucks.

Lance should be the pariah. In the near future, I’d like to see Lance and Floyd trading places in the public’s eye.

Rusty Pantera

Love the way he tries to take control of the depo at some points, filling in the awkward silences, and where he answers the question before the counsellor has finished asking it – Bad! Bad! Bad!

Armando Seatpost

I have no idea if Lance is lying or not. What bothers me the most about these clips is how edited they are. If you want to be the wiki leaks of cycling show the full depo not the carefully selected clips you’ve posted to paint Lance the way you want.

Andy

That’s a very fair point, and I did point out that they are prejudiced. We didn’t edit these, though, this is how we got them.

mikeweb

Yes, like everyone else here, I’m not an interrogation expert, but the long “Uhhh…”s before many of the answers, like why did he call so-and-so, seem pretty telling. Plus the whole ‘Lance logic’ of the way he denied what was said in the hospital room, kind of screams ‘lie’. It’s like psychologically he’s trying not to multiply the lies, so he insists on sticking with the original one (I’ve never used PEDs) and then extrapolates to indirectly answer the question posed.

Arnaud Torque

If you have ever been in a deposition before, you NEVER answer questions about someone else’s intent, motivation, or thoughts. How could you know? And NEVER proffer any information except to directly answer the question asked.

Spin it, spin it good

“What bothers me the most about these clips is how edited they are. If you want to be the wiki leaks of cycling show the full depo not the carefully selected clips you’ve posted to paint Lance the way you want.”

Obviously the edited videos should be viewed as a whole, but my guess is that won’t be happening anytime soon. Bitchylinks indeed.

Botany Bay

A perfect opportunity for Fabiani to provide you/us with “full context”, don’t you think? When Andy wanted to ask him about SCA, he was “more than happy” to furnish copies of the depositions that related to his questions.

Fabiani loves to show the complete picture, right?

Mark? Mark, you still with us? 😉

Botany Bay

In other words, let’s get Fabiani to give Andy copies of ALL OF THE VIDEOS. You know, because “facts” exonerate Lance, right?

West Coast Reader

Interrogator: Why did you call Mr. Andrew before his deposition?

Lance: Huuuuuuuuu…….. (Choose ending below)

A) To alert him that Guido was going to break his knee caps if he didn’t lie. (Guido = Livingston, as in not too scary)

B) Offer him a bed to sleep in if he lied for him and Betsy kicked him out.

C) To lie about the organized doping program at USPS.

D) Speed dial was next to the strip club number and offered him to go while he was at it, as a way to convince him to not nark on him.

Margaret

After watching these videos twice I am convinced he is lying through his teeth. His body language gives him away for one thing, and he stalled when asked about the ‘phone calls, sure sign he was thinking up a story. As to him taking the oath, it meant absolutely NOTHING to him. Most people would sit up straight and would definitely not sat say ‘yeah’ on taking an oath. Biggest liar and fraudster in decades, I hope they nail him. Better be quick though, he’s already made his plans to get out of Texas.

Botany Bay

Here’s a question:

If Lance didn’t really have an ownership stake in Tailwind Sports, then why was HE the one suing SCA? I mean, if he was a mere employee of the team, and the team was owned by Tailwind Sports, and his contract stipulated a $5MM bonus for winning the TDF, then Lance should have been calling Tailwind and saying “Where’s my money, bitches?”. And hence Tailwind would have had to sue SCA.

But no. Lance filed the lawsuit. Do you think he was the one who contracted with SCA in the first place? No! That was Tailwind.

Thibault Ferrule

you guys realize that these videos actually make lance look good, right?

He seems solid and consistent. Yes, he doesn’t know how to answer why he made calls, so what?

Show the whole thing.

Luchino Topcap

who knew that so many NYC cyclists have secret CIA lie-detection interrogation training? i mean, is he lying? probably, but seriously…people need to lay off the “i am a world’s expert on reading facial expressions” delusions from watching the show “Lie to Me”

Helmet

Let’s ask John Eustice about his fathers strategic planning consulting role for US Postal. Rumor has it that his recommendation was that USPS sponsor a cycling team. Is that true?

West Coast Reader

I’m patiently waiting for the next bicileak… can we get them at regular intervals like my training?

Samuel Plug

Stick him in front of Tim Roth and his crack group of human lie detectors and lets see if he becomes human. It seems that in these short clips it is clear he is hiding something and shows contempt with some of the questioning!

Victor Dry Lube

I kept waiting for him to look directly into the camera, bite his lip and say “I never had sexual relations with that woman.” He may still have a chance at a political career if he can avoid being indicted….shit, in Texas even THAT won’t make any difference!

Galleazzo Cogset

The dude is a legend and all you hateful trolls would love nothing more than to see him fail. What a bunch of mean-spirited losers. Lance does more for mankind every 5 minutes than you’ll do in your entire lives. Fuck off and ride your bikes. PS Cycling in NYC sucks.

Rob Rimini

What does Lance do for mankind?
He raises money to give to pharma corp which is already overflowing with cash. They overcharge for cancer drugs that no one can afford without insurance that few people have.
Meanwhile, Lance never mentions the environmental cause of most cancers. He’s a legend alright, of the fraudulent type. In the the most fraudulent country on the planet, a la Wall Street, ‘K’ Street and Madison Ave, and of course the pentagon.
Wake up Cogset. You sound like the type who impatiently waits for every new Disney and Pixar film.

Think What I Want

Directed @ Galleazzo Cogset

Wrong.

He has not done more for mankind than me or other people. That is ridiculous. Take him down from the pedestal.

Arthur Cogset

But no. Lance filed the lawsuit. Do you think he was the one who contracted with SCA in the first place? No! That was Tailwind.

It has something to do with which party has standing in court. I’m no lawyer, but I’ve been around litigation for a long time.

Meanwhile, the corporate registration for Tailwind clearly identifies Weisel, Armstrong and a couple of Stapletons as officers of Tailwind. It’s another misdirection to fit the lie of the moment.

Accept that USAC/UCI is a den of thieves and everything they do makes much more sense.

Frangle 10-speed

The dude is a legend…

Marion Jones ring a bell? Pete Rose? Black sox of 1919? Legendary like that, sure.

Reality suggests Team Pharmstrong is a lifelong cheat building a brand on the sick and dying.

The bad news is Hein and Pat at the UCI don’t look like they’ll be caught enabling doping.

Lance Going Down

His body language is clearly all over the place, not the language of a man who is telling the truth, rather an arrogant, conceited, egomaniac who thinks he is ABOVE THE LAW and above the common sense of ordinary people.

He is deluded and will go down for this!! Keep watching the Jeff V Lance show!

Houston Austin

looks like LA practices the same Texas stonewall act like his fellow blowhard Roger Clemens…at least the Rocket wore a tie and a well pressed fibbing suit.

Arrrgggg!

His energy is so negative that it jumps off the screen. But the most disgusting part of his open woman hating is when he doesn’t think and explains that sometimes lying is simply “Required”…. Yeah That makes it OK…. He wouldn’t have pissed on his wife if she were on fire!!!! What does he understand about married life???? Hopefully he will have to do some community service mowing lawns for old widows!

Arrrgggg!

Well well well, All I can say is that Lance’s use of the english language in reference to women, wives and or partners says it all. And the fact that he offers up, on his own, that it is perfectly understandable to lie, if the situation “requires” it. Or shall I say if the Old Lady Requires it! Yeah that makes it ok!!!???

For the record, Lance would be the last person on earth that would understand the roles of two people in a relationship or loyalty Required… He wouldn’t have pissed on his wife if she was on fire! (correction) he might have pissed on her if she were pregnant with his immortality & on fire….

I hope they make him do community service mowing lawns for old widows and pick up tiny little dog poohs while doing it … for a decade.

BTW what is he so angry about???

YOU F--K Off

By: Galleazzo Cogset

Sat, 02/19/2011 – 7:06pm The dude is a legend and all you hateful trolls would love nothing more than to see him fail. What a bunch of mean-spirited losers. Lance does more for mankind every 5 minutes than you’ll do in your entire lives. Fuck off and ride your bikes. PS Cycling in NYC sucks.

No he is NOT a legend! He’s a fucking cheat and people like you you fucking douche are DELUDED by the charisma of this liar!

You are a loser! You know why? Because you make EXCUSES for this scum bag!

Both my grandmothers died of CANCER! I know about this horrible disease and Lance the liar is hiding BEHIND his foundation because he knows that he’s a liar and a cheat.

He got the big C due to his ABUSE of steroids and EPO.

Wake the fuck up you idoiot! You are a pathetic, deluded clown. Ride your bike and remember: you hide behind your own fucking apologist excuses for this LIAR!!!

AND if you don’t like NYC fuck off back to NJ!

LA LIAR

By: Galleazzo Cogset

Sat, 02/19/2011 – 7:06pm The dude is a legend and all you hateful trolls would love nothing more than to see him fail. What a bunch of mean-spirited losers. Lance does more for mankind every 5 minutes than you’ll do in your entire lives. Fuck off and ride your bikes. PS Cycling in NYC sucks.

“No he is NOT a legend! He’s a fucking cheat and people like you you fucking douche are DELUDED by the charisma of this liar!

You are a loser! You know why? Because you make EXCUSES for this scum bag!

Both my grandmothers died of CANCER! I know about this horrible disease and Lance the liar is hiding BEHIND his foundation because he knows that he’s a liar and a cheat.

He got the big C due to his ABUSE of steroids and EPO.

Wake the fuck up you idiot! You are a pathetic, deluded clown. Ride your bike and remember: you hide behind your own fucking apologist excuses for this LIAR!!!

AND if you don’t like NYC fuck off back to NJ!”

I AGREE!!!!

Marchionne Wave Ring

I would love nothing more than to hear the theme to “The Benny Hill Show” while he is answering these questions.

Pulley

And these videos prove what?

At best they provide thought starters for all the trolls to generate their elaborate Lance hate-related hypotheses.

Cancer from steroids. Anger means dishonesty. Misogyny means he kills babies.

All your hate is going to give you cancer, angry trolls.

Dionne Warwick

Lance, call me at the Psychic Friends Network, 1-800-QUE-CERA. We’ll help you see what’s coming, so you can navigate the stormy seas.

Quinten Bearing

Wait until the government’s “Unnamed source”…Tyler Hamilton, comes out and puts Pharmstrong down!!! Tyler was busted but, he came right out and admitted. I think he’s plenty of credibility and will help put the nails in douchstrong’s coffin!!!!

Just sayin’!!!

Dong Work For Yuda

Tyler was busted and admitted it? Uh,….when? I know the DHEA part post his Europe career, but I don’t think the blood transfusion “admission” ever happened. He still has a gold medal. And there was some talk of a chimera and some other obfuscation.

I do hope Tyler is the “unnamed” witness. He alluded to the mafia just like Floyd does, as well as writing a book someday. He doesn’t need cycling anymore, maybe that time is now.

Tyler’s a good dude. Frankie’s a good dude. Hincapie’s a good dude. Lance, most decidedly, is not.

And all this cancer stuff? Sure is nice. But a separate issue. And always remember: one good deed hides ten bad ones.

Erwan Seatmast

All I have to say is that this is all about business and don’t take the name of sports in vain. To be frank this is all we can do. We can’t satisfy our hunger with passion for sports.
B&G sprayer

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