Former cycling champion Lance Armstrong, whose fall from grace cost him millions of dollars in lawsuits and endorsements, said his investment in Uber Technologies Inc.had saved his family.
Armstrong, who was stripped of his seven Tour de France titles and banned for life from the sport for doping, gave 100,000 dollars to a venture capital fund.
According to a CNBC report on Thursday, the fund was invested in the ride-hailing company around 2009.
“It’s saved our family,” Armstrong said in the interview.
He said he was not aware he was investing in Uber, which was then worth 3.7 million dollars, when he gave money to venture capitalist Chris Sacca of Lowercase Capital.
Uber, which is preparing to go public next year, could be valued at 120 billion dollars according to proposals made by U.S. banks bidding to run the offering.
Armstrong did not disclose how much his investment in Uber is currently worth, saying “it’s a lot more” and “it’s too good to be true”.
When asked by the interviewer if he had made “10, 20, 30, 40 or $50 million”, Armstrong replied: “It’s one of those. It’s a lot, it’s a lot.”
Armstrong won the Tour de France a record seven-times, but was stripped of his titles and banned for life in 2012 by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency.
This was after it accused him of engineering one of the most sophisticated doping schemes in sports.
The American later admitted to the cheating in a January 2013 televised interview with Oprah Winfrey..
