[1] In 1970, when he was a sales manager at Mars, Incorporated, he convinced them to sponsor a cycling team, to get access to the Belgian market.
[7] Verbruggen (sometimes along with Pat McQuaid) has been involved in several defamation suits against people who accused UCI of corruption in regard to doping.
In 2002 UCI sued Festina soigneur Willy Voet for defamation over claims in his book Breaking the Chain.
[17] Another defamation lawsuit was against WADA Chief Dick Pound regarding his comments about doping and UCI.
The Judge also forbade Paul Kimmage to claim that Hein Verbruggen hid controls, is dishonest, did not behave responsibly, did not apply the same rules for all, did not chase Lance Armstrong after he had provided an antedated certificate.
[21] The Judge also sentenced Paul Kimmage to pay Hein Verbruggen 12.000 Swiss Francs; covering his legal fees.
[22][23] In addition Kimmage, who had received money from the public to prepare a defence, decided to sue Verbruggen himself in a criminal court.
Verbruggen denied any wrongdoing and a UCI press release of 28 July 2008[28] explained that contracts had been signed with Japanese cycling groups wanting to invest in the development of track cycling and that this matter was unrelated to the inclusion of keirin, together with three other track disciplines, in the Olympic Games.
[31] Rogge later denied that any such meeting had taken place, but did not insist that China adhere to its prior assurances that the Internet would not be censored.
[citation needed] In May 2010, Floyd Landis accused Verbruggen of accepting a $100,000 bribe from Lance Armstrong to cover-up a positive dope control in 2001.
[32] Verbruggen denied the allegation, but confirmed that Armstrong representatives had approached the UCI with the intention of donating money.
[33] Verbruggen indicated that Armstrong's money would not have gone toward testing, but may have been used to purchase a Sysmex machine to analyze blood samples.
[36] The Cycling Independent Reform Commission concluded in February 2015 that Lance Armstrong did not test positive and confirmed that it didn't find any indication of a financial agreement or corruption.
[40] English summary:[41] When Paris lost its bid to Beijing, certain French media falsely suggested that the Agreement was related to relaxing doping rules whereas the agreement was clearly related to bringing the French rules in line with those of the IOC during games time (a prerequisite for all Olympic Games).