What Lance Armstrong and Insider Trading Have in Common

Lying. Cheating. Gaining an unfair advantage over the competition.

Let’s be honest for a second, most of us refused to believe that Lance Armstrong was a cheater when Floyd Landis and other former teammates admitted doping and accused Lance of doing the same. How could we? The man was an American hero. He won seven Tour de France, viewed by some as the most strenuous competition in the world. He had defied all common sense. He had battled back from cancer and started an incredibly successful charity campaign. He was the goodness, purity, and success that we all wish to achieve.

Then it all came crashing down. Lance was a cheater. He didn’t win all those championships, his doctors did. In the last few days he has filmed confessions on Oprah he makes sure to not make any incriminating statements about drug usage in the past five years, since this may actually land him in jail. The goal for Lance is to gain leniency with the USADA, which will hopefully allow him to compete in professional triathlons. This will give him an opportunity to earn an income yet again after most of his sponsors have given up on him.

How does our legal system treat other cheaters? Is the public anger against Armstrong justified? What are the societal implications of this heartbreaking saga?

The most prominent and recent cheating scandals that I can think of are the insider trading cases. The United States government and in particular New York’s Attorney General Preet Bharara have brought dozens of successful convictions against Wall Street in the last few years. The most lauded convictions have been Rajat Gupta, former head of the McKinsey consulting firm and a Goldman director as well as billionaire hedge fund manager Raj Rajaratnam.

A line has been drawn in the sand. Insider trading is strictly illegal and it will send well-heeled Wall Street professionals to jail. Not only does it undermine confidence in our markets and its players, it also stacks the cards firmly against the retail investor, who has become more and more skeptical of the stock market.

So what does this have to do with Lance Armstrong? Well, if we as a society have had it with cheaters, then we need to punish Lance to the full letter of the law. Unlike professional baseball players, whose doping wasn’t necessarily against some rules at the time, Lance’s actions were plainly against the rules of cycling. He may even face perjury charges — in 2005 he testified that he never took performance-enhancing drugs.

According to sources, Lance Armstrong’s net worth is about $125 million. Given that he has admitted to doping for his seven Tour de France victories, most of these sponsorship proceeds are ill gotten gains. To be consistent with punishments in finance, Lance should repay all of these ill-gotten gains and potentially serve jail time.

As a society we are sick and tired of cheaters, whether they be in sports or the stock market. Let’s show them that we really care about the honesty and integrity, let’s send Lance to prison for perjury.