Stefan Denifl faces charges of defrauding two cycling teams, including Irish squad Aqua Blue Sport, and race promoters of €580,000 during the years he doped.
However, the
Austrian has told a court in his home country that neither Aqua Blue Sport nor
IAM Cycling has made any complaint against him.
Personnel from the two
teams may be interviewed as part of the case as Denifl denies defrauding anyone.
He is effectively claiming his former teams - both of which have ceased operations - are not suggesting his actions defrauded them and his lawyers want statements taken from the teams.
"I am not a criminal," Denifl said in relation to now facing serious commercial sports fraud charges.
"I wouldn't have got a contract without doping,” he added according to Tirol.orf.at in Austria.
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The 32-year-old has
admitted doping on dates between 2014 and 2018, while he rode for IAM Cycling
and Aqua Blue Sport.
He has already been sanctioned for his doping in being banned for four years last June and having results he achieved expunged, including a 2017 Vuelta stage win with Aqua Blue Sport.
While he has confessed his doping offences and has taken his punishment, he is now objecting to being pursued for allegedly defrauding his former teams.
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His lawyer told a court in Innsbruck that Denifl would effectively be punished twice for the same offences if the fraud charges – related to €580,000 in earnings during the period he doped – were pursued against him and he was convicted.
The sum of money
relates to salaries he was paid by the two teams as well as bonuses and prize
money during the period.
The Austrian
prosecutors are effectively claiming Denifl obtained that money through fraud
because he doped to achieve the results that earned the money.
Denifl has said he
went about his doping independently of the two teams and without their
knowledge.
There is no
suggestion whatever of any wrongdoing on the part of anyone in the two teams.
Indeed, if the teams’ personnel were interviewed it would relate to whether Denifl’s behaviour had caused them harm or amounted to fraud against them.
The sports fraud charges the former pro cyclist is now facing are criminal in nature and if he were convicted he would face a prison term of up to 10 years.
The Austrian has been under investigation as part of Operation Aderlass, a blood doping probe based in Austria and German which found blood bags during raids early last year.
It is examining the activities of Dr
Mark Schmidt, who is based in Germany and previously worked as a doctor with
the Gerolsteiner and Milram pro cycling teams.
Investigators have been investigating his role in helping athletes from across several sports, including cycling and skiing, to blood dope.
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