Oprah Winfrey speaks with Lance Armstrong during an interview on the controversy surrounding his cycling career on Monday, January 14, in Austin, Texas. Oprah Winfrey's exclusive no-holds-barred interview with Lance Armstrong, "Oprah and Lance Armstrong: The Worldwide Exclusive," has expanded to air as a two-night event on OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network. The interview airs Thursday, January 17, and Friday, January 18.
Los Angeles (CNN) -- It is unlikely that Lance Armstrong will face criminal fraud or perjury charges in connection with a closed federal investigation despite his admission of using banned performance-enhancing drugs, a source with knowledge of the probe told CNN Friday.
The investigation was closed last February without any charges against the now-dethroned seven-time Tour de France champion. Although he has admitted that he lied about his use of banned substances and procedures, he wouldn't face perjury charges in connection with the probe because he never testified in the proceedings, the source said.
The source confirmed that investigators focused their probe on allegations of potential fraud, based on the activity of a racing team partly owned by Lance Armstrong that received a sponsorship contract from the U.S. Postal Service between 1998 and 2004.
Despite Armstrong's statements, the statute of limitations on a criminal fraud scheme is five years, which could pose problems should the government consider reopening the case. Armstrong told Oprah Winfrey he stopped doping following his retirement in 2005.
The Justice Department had no comment on whether it might reopen the criminal investigation in light of Armstrong's comments to Oprah.
The nearly two-year inquiry, centered in Los Angeles, involved evidence gathered by federal prosecutors that including sworn testimony from Armstrong's former teammates, associates and friends. According to the source, the probe began with a separate investigation of a California racing team in 2008 whose members included former teammates of Armstrong. The source would not identify the team.
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According to the source, the criminal probe accelerated when former cycling champion Floyd Landis, one of Armstrong's former teammates, went public in 2010 alleging he and other top riders, including Armstrong, had engaged in widespread doping while on the Postal Service team.
According to the source, prosecutors examined whether a doping program was developed for Armstrong's team during the period when it received millions of sponsorship dollars from the U.S. Postal Service. The criminal probe was focused on whether Armstrong engaged in criminal fraud through "financial transactions" if the government could prove he violated anti-doping clauses in his contract with the Postal Service, the source said.
The source added that investigators probed "what kind of alleged doping occurred and how it occurred."
On February 3, 2012, U.S. Attorney Andre Birotte Jr., representing the Central District of California, announced that his office was closing the investigation into "allegations of federal criminal conduct by members and associates of a professional bicycle racing team owned in part by Lance Armstrong."
In Birotte's statement announcing the decision, he commended the joint investigative efforts of his prosecutors and special agents, including "the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the United States Postal Service Office of the Inspector General." He gave no reason for closing its investigation.
Loyola Law School professor Laurie Levenson, a former federal prosecutor in Los Angeles who watched Winfrey's interview and followed the criminal probe, said the timing of Armstrong's admitted doping must have played a role in his decision to confess.
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"Nothing he said would likely subject him to further criminal charges because the statutes expired, and he did not say how it happened nor did he implicate others in a way that would constitute a general scheme to defraud the federal government," Levenson said. "In terms of transparency, Armstrong's interview was a mixed bag, and I'm sure his answers were part of a carefully crafted strategy to avoid criminal liability."
An attorney representing Armstrong in the criminal investigation did not respond to repeated phone calls for comment.
According to the source, the purpose of the probe was not to build a case on whether Armstrong or his teammates used banned substances, but rather to establish evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that Armstrong violated criminal fraud statutes.
The credibility of Landis and other cycling team members also posed problems for the government's case, given their previous denials of using banned substances, the source said.
When the case closed without further action, Armstrong issued a statement on his website. "I am gratified to learn that the U.S. attorney's office is closing its investigation," Armstrong said. "It is the right decision and I commend them for reaching it. I look forward to continuing my life as a father, a competitor, and an advocate in the fight against cancer without this distraction."
Unlike the Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens case, in which both baseball stars testified before a federal grand jury and Congress and were accused of lying under oath, Armstrong was not questioned by federal authorities under oath, and therefore was not exposed to potential criminal perjury charges in the Los Angeles case, the source said.
When asked by Winfrey about the Department of Justice decision to drop the case, Armstrong said, "I thought I was out of the woods. And those were some serious wolves."
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Cyclist Lance Armstrong has been stripped of his seven Tour de France wins and banned from the tournament for life, the International Cycling Union announced Monday, October 22. Pictured, Armstrong addresses participants at The Livestrong Challenge Ride on Sunday. He stepped down as chairman of his Livestrong cancer charity on Wednesday, October 17.
Armstrong leads his teammates during the final stage of the 1999 Tour de France.
Armstrong, 17, competes in the Jeep Triathlon Grand Prix in 1988. He became a professional triathlete at age 16 and joined the U.S. National Cycling Team two years later.
In 1995, Armstrong wins the 18th stage of the Tour de France. He finished 36th overall and finished the race for the first time that year.
Armstrong rides for charity in May 1998 at the Ikon Ride for the Roses to benefit the Lance Armstrong Foundation. He established the foundation to benefit cancer research after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in 1996. After treatment, he was declared cancer-free in February 1997.
Armstrong takes his honor lap on the Champs-Élysées in Paris after winning the Tour de France for the first time in 1999.
After winning the 2000 Tour de France, Armstrong holds his son Luke on his shoulders.
Armstrong rides during the 18th stage of the 2001 Tour de France. He won the tour that year for the third consecutive time.
Armstrong celebrates winning the 10th stage of the Tour de France in 2001.
After winning the 2001 Tour de France, Armstrong presents President George W. Bush with a U.S. Postal Service yellow jersey and a replica of the bike he used to win the race.
Armstrong celebrates on the podium after winning the Tour de France by 61 seconds in 2003. It was his fifth consecutive win.
Jay Leno interviews Armstrong on "The Tonight Show" in 2003.
After his six consecutive Tour de France win in 2004, Armstrong attends a celebration in his honor in front of the Texas State Capitol in Austin.
Armstrong arrives at the 2005 American Music Awards in Los Angeles with his then-fiancee Sheryl Crow. The couple never made it down the aisle, splitting up the following year.
Armstrong holds up a paper displaying the number seven at the start of the Tour de France in 2005. He went on to win his seventh consecutive victory.
As a cancer survivor, Armstrong testifies during a Senate hearing in 2008 on Capitol Hill. The hearing focused on finding a cure for cancer in the 21st century.
In 2009, Armstrong suffers a broken collarbone after falling during a race in Spain along with more than a dozen other riders.
Young Armstrong fans write messages on the ground using yellow chalk ahead of the 2009 Tour de France. He came in third place that year.
Armstrong launches the three-day Livestrong Global Cancer Summit in 2009 in Dublin, Ireland. The event was organized by his foundation.
In May 2010, Armstrong crashes during the Amgen Tour of California and is taken to the hospital. That same day, he denied allegations of doping made by former teammate Floyd Landis.
Ahead of what he said would be his last Tour de France, Armstrong gears up for the start of the race in 2010.
Lance Armstrong looks back as he rides in a breakaway during the 2010 Tour de France.
Armstrong finishes 23rd in the 2010 Tour de France. He announced his retirement from the world of professional cycling in February 2011. He said he wants to devote more time to his family and the fight against cancer.
Armstrong's son Luke; twin daughters, Isabelle and Grace; and 1-year-old son, Max, stand outside the Radioshack team bus on a rest day during the 2010 Tour de France.
The frame of Armstrong's bike is engraved with the names of his four children at the time and the Spanish word for five, "cinco." His fifth child, Olivia, was born in October 2010.
In February 2012, Armstrong competes in the 70.3 Ironman Triathlon in Panama City. He went on to claim two Half Ironman triathlon titles by June. He got back into the sport after retiring from professional cycling.
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