Former professional cyclist Floyd Landis, who blew the whistle on rampant doping in the sport, particularly by former teammate Lance Armstrong, has admitted he defrauded 1,765 people who donated to a legal defense fund he organized to fight charges that he used performance-enhancing drugs himself.
Landis, who won the Tour de France in 2006, has agreed to repay nearly $479,000 to the donors who believed his initial denials that he had doped during his cycling career, according to a deferred-prosecution agreement he reached Friday with federal prosecutors in San Diego.
