2009–2011[edit]
Ashenden's findings were disputed by the Vrijman report, which pointed to procedural and privacy issues in dismissing the AFLD test results. The Times article also provided information on testimony given by Swart, the Andreus, and an instant messaging conversation between Frankie and Jonathan Vaughters regarding blood-doping in the peloton. Vaughters signed a statement disavowing the comments and stating he had "no personal knowledge that any team in the Tour de France, including Armstrong's Discovery team in 2005, engaged in any prohibited conduct whatsoever." Frankie signed a statement affirming the conversation took place as indicated on the instant messaging logs submitted to the court.[39] The SCA trial was settled out of court, and while no verdict or finding of facts was rendered, Armstrong regarded the outcome as proof that the doping allegations were baseless.[39]
On May 20, 2010, former U.S. Postal teammate Floyd Landis – who had previously been stripped of the 2006 Tour title after a positive drug test – accused Armstrong of doping in 2002 and 2003.[40] Landis also claimed that Postal team director Johan Bruyneel had bribed Hein Verbruggen, former president of the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI), to keep quiet about a positive Armstrong test in 2002.[41][42] Landis admitted there was no documentation supporting his claims.[43] However, in July 2010 the president of the UCI, Pat McQuaid, confirmed that Armstrong made two donations to cycling's governing body: $25,000 in 2002, used by the juniors anti-doping program, and $100,000 in 2005, to buy a blood testing machine.[44]
Landis also maintained that he witnessed Armstrong receiving multiple blood transfusions, and dispensing testosterone patches to his teammates.[45] On May 25, 2010, the UCI disputed Landis's claims, insisting that "none of the tests revealed the presence of EPO in the samples taken from riders at the 2001 Tour of Switzerland." According to ESPN, "Landis claimed that Armstrong tested positive while winning in 2002, a timeline Armstrong himself said left him 'confused,' because he did not compete in the event in 2002."[46]
In May 2011, former Armstrong teammate Tyler Hamilton told CBS News that he and Armstrong had together taken EPO before and during the 1999, 2000, and 2001 Tours de France. Armstrong's attorney, Mark Fabiani, responded that Hamilton was lying.[47] The accompanying 60 Minutes investigation alleged that two other former Armstrong teammates, Frankie Andreu and George Hincapie, had told federal investigators that they witnessed Armstrong taking banned substances, including EPO, or supplied Armstrong with such substances.[47] Fabiani stated in response that, "We have no way of knowing what happened in the grand jury and so can't comment on these anonymously sourced reports."[48] Hamilton further claimed that Armstrong tested positive for EPO during the 2001 Tour de Suisse; 60 Minutes reported that the UCI intervened to conceal those test results, and that donations from Armstrong totaling US$125,000 may have played into said actions.[47]
Martial Saugy, chief of the Swiss anti-doping agency, later confirmed that they found four urine samples suspicious of EPO use at the 2001 race, but said there was no "positive test" and claimed not to know whether the suspicious results belonged to Armstrong. As a result, Armstrong's lawyers demanded an apology from 60 Minutes.[49] Instead of apologizing, CBS News chairman Jeff Fager said the network stood by its report as "truthful, accurate and fair", and added that the suspicious tests which Saugy confirmed to exist have been linked to Armstrong "by a number of international officials".[50]