Feds join civil fraud case against Lance Armstrong.

The federal government believes the former cyclist committed fraud through cheating and lies. The feds want money back and more that it claims belongs to it. This could be more than $90 million the feds want.

The U.S. Department of Justice announced Friday that it has joined a civil fraud suit against the former cyclist under the False Claims Act. By joining the suit, the government is teaming up with another confessed cycling cheat, Floyd Landis, who filed the suit under seal in June 2010.

Confessing to Oprah hasn't helped matters with Lance Armstrong and doesn't appear to help reducing his ban of racing on the tour. The company that sponsored Armstrong and others, United States Postal Service, wants money back.

Armstrong's attorneys are likely to argue that the USPS was not defrauded at all, but instead benefited from the sponsorship. According to economic benefit studies conducted for the USPS, the USPS received around $100 million in value from the cycling team sponsorship thanks to media coverage and related benefits from 2001-04.

According to economic benefit studies conducted for the USPS, media coverage and benefits allowed USPS to receive around $100 million from 2001-04.

Landis was a teammate of Armstrong between 2001 and 2004, when the USPS paid $31 million to sponsor the team.

"Lance Armstrong and his cycling team took more than $30 million from the U.S. Postal Service based on their contractual promise to play fair and abide by the rules - including the rules against doping," said a statement from Ronald C. Machen Jr., U.S. Attorney for Washington, D.C.

"The Postal Service has now seen its sponsorship unfairly associated with what has been described as 'the most sophisticated, professionalized, and successful doping program that sport has ever seen,'" Machen said.

"This lawsuit is designed to help the Postal Service recoup the tens of millions of dollars it paid out to the (Armstrong's) cycling team based on years of broken promises. In today's economic climate, the U.S. Postal Service is simply not in a position to allow Lance Armstrong or any of the other defendants to walk away with the tens of millions of dollars they illegitimately procured."

Armstrong and his attorneys tried to come to an agreement with the feds but disagreed on the damage left upon the USPS.