Floyd Landis, Lance Armstrong’s former teammate, who brought a False Claims Act whistleblower suit against Armstrong, now says that the law firm Williams & Connolly was part of Armstrong’s scheme to lie about the use of banned performance enhancing substances.
Attorneys for Landis are now seeking to obtain documents from Williams & Connolly about the firm’s relationship with Lance Armstrong. According to court papers, Landis served Williams & Connolly with a subpeona for documents in early May asking for records of the firm’s communications with Armstrong. Landis alleges that Armstrong’s lawyers Williams & Connolly perpetuated lies about Armstrong’s use of the drugs.
The subpoena states that none of the documents sought are protected by the attorney client privilege because of the crime fraud exception to that rule. It states: “It has long been established that “attorney-client communications are not privileged if they ‘are made in furtherance of a crime, fraud, or other misconduct.'” It says further that “Armstrong and his counsel Williams & Connolly, LLP, including John Cuddihy and Mark Levinstein, to further his scheme in the following ways, among others.” Interestingly, Floyd Landis has also asked the Court to view many of the documents sought to see if they should be produced.
Jeffrey Newman represents whistleblowers but no one in this case.
