Lance Armstrong.

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK -- Lance Armstrong has hired a criminal defence attorney to represent him in the federal investigation for possible fraud and doping violations by the seven-time Tour de France winner and his cycling teammates.

Bryan D. Daly is a former federal prosecutor based in Los Angeles and partner at the firm Sheppard Mullin Richter and Hampton.

His hiring by Armstrong was first reported by The Daily Journal, a legal trade publication, and then by the New York Daily News.

Daly confirmed to the AP he had been hired by Armstrong in an email late Wednesday night.

The investigation was spurred by accusations from Floyd Landis, a former teammate of Armstrong's on the U.S. Postal team, in a series of emails sent to cycling and doping officials this spring.

Armstrong has denied the allegations and questioned Landis' credibility. Landis was stripped of his 2006 Tour title for doping.