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Castles Made of Sand

22 Sep 2011

With regard to the articles that appeared in Corriere della Sera (09/21/2011), Repubblica (22/09/2011) and La Gazzetta dello Sport (09/22/2011) 

- the company called Health and Performance existed from 1996 until 2010: it offered consultancy services to elite athletes, and certainly had nothing to do with doping. I was a consultant for this company, and have always presented regular parcels and invoices, all of which result in my tax return statements. 

- my professional activity takes place mainly on the road, with the execution of tests evaluating the fitness of athletes on climbs or flat courses: hence the need to utilize a camper van as a commodity, in order to allow the athlete to take a shower and discuss comfortably about the results of the test. Surely not to "evade the controls". 

- I have never been stopped by Swiss Custom Officials, much less with a "bag full of cash". 

- I have known for a long time to be at the center of an international investigation moved by several interests, old grudges and "scores to settle", and I knew I would be under surveillance and wire tap. 

- the investigators have made several "blitzes", based on imaginative interpretations of interceptions, against athletes and people related to me, which led to nothing but the discomfort and the intimidation of the interested parties. 

- my son Stefano is administering a website which offers personalized training consultancy to various cyclists and triathletes; Lance Armstrong is among them. 

- I never had knowledge, or availability of access to any bank account in Locarno, let alone "on behalf of certain nominee." 

- the measure of "inhibition of attendance" on my persona by the FCI (italian cycling federation) was originally based upon a prosecution's hypothesis that was eventually thoroughly refuted in the course of the court trial: in particular, it resulted absolutely false that I have ever "administered and sold performance-enhancing drugs to several athletes with the purpose of ensuring better athletic performances". 
“Rebus sic stantibus“ is written on page 6 of the motivation for the measure, but the facts resulted quite different from those conjectured by the investigations...

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