American Floyd Landis made an appearance on Larry King Live yesterday to discuss the news Monday that he was issued an arrest warrant by a French judge for computer intrusion. The warrant pertains to his alleged involvement in hacking into the Labaratoire National de Dopistage du Dopage’s (LNDD) computer systems at Chatenay-Malabry.
The head of the French Anti-Doping Agency (AFLD), Pierre Bordry, told Reuters that “French judge Thomas Cassuto of the Tribunal de Grande Instance de Nanterre (High Court of Nanterre) informed us that on January 28 they issued an international arrest warrant against Floyd Landis, who tested positive for testosterone in the Tour de France 2006, after our laboratory computer system was hacked.”
During the interview Landis clarified that the only documents used in his defense were provided directly by the LNDD. “At no time during any of these hearings did we use any document that wasn’t provided to us directly from the lab,” explained Landis. The hearings were well documented, and he pointed out, “I do know the fact that it’s on the records in these hearings that we never used anything like that [stolen documents].”
When King asked whether he had hacked into their system Landis replied, “I wouldn’t know how to do that first of all, but secondly, there has been an assertion by the lab director Mr. Bordry that at some point in these hearings we somehow used some documents that we’ve obtained in some other way, and that’s just plain not true.”
The AFLD declined to answer questions from CNN stating that they didn’t want to comment on a case that is now before French justice. They said they will not comment on the matter until a verdict has been reached.
“I’ve never been contacted. I’ve never been served anything,” Landis said of the summons the French lab has claimed to have issued.
Dr. Brent Kay, the doctor who treated Landis’ hip, points to the warrant as being another way for the AFLD to go after Dr. Arnie Baker and make the cyclist look bad. Baker helped with the defense, and it’s his computer that the French labs say was used to hack into the lab’s computer systems.
Kay also took the opportunity to point out that the man who testified against Landis as a star witness on behalf of the prosecution was convicted in Federal Court this week for drug trafficking.
“I would be glad to answer questions,” Landis said when asked whether he’d go to France, “but I don’t know I would be able to pay for myself to go to France for a week [to answer in person].”
When asked point blank whether he hacked into the computer systems at LNDD he replied, “I probably shouldn’t laugh, but…”
When King asked whether he had been stripped of his Tour win, Landis detailed, “It was taken away by the very same lab that’s making these allegations,” he said of his 2006 Tour de France title. “It’s odd to me even more so now that they’ve made the statement to you. The reason this story is out there in the first place is because of an assertion made by this lab that now says they don’t have a comment,” he lamented. “So they’ve started this story and now they don’t want to comment on it and I’m here to defend myself and I’m put in a position again where I have to deny this.”