An investigation into a sports doctor who helped orchestrate an elaborate doping programme for Lance Armstrong has opened a “Pandora’s box” of shady dealings worth millions, a report said.

Michele Ferrari has already been banned for life by USADA for his role in a doping network that snared seven-times Tour de France champion Armstrong.

But La Gazzetta dello Sport yesterday said a probe, launched by Padua investigators in 2010, has also uncovered a world of shady business dealings and money laundering.

Under the heading ‘The Ferrari System’, it said investigators had uncovered a system in which up to €30 million circulated thanks to the use of Swiss bank accounts and complicit individuals in key positions.

Ferrari denied helping Armstrong to dope but according to Gazzetta, he faces several charges, including conspiracy to smuggle, distribute and use performance-enhancing drugs, tax evasion and money laundering.

Ferrari’s son Stefano, sports agent Raimondo Scimone, two bank managers from Lucerne and Neuchatel, and a Swiss lawyer, Rocco Taminelli – who regularly took up the defence of riders charged with doping offences – face similar charges, according to the report.