The order to seize the men’s documents came after questions were raised during the initial investigations into the alleged robbery, according to a warrant obtained by NBC.
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A police official with knowledge of the investigation told The Associated Press that police can not find their taxi driver or witnesses.
While we still don’t know the answer, the latest freakish development in this saga took place moments ago when an order was made to seize American swimmer Ryan Lochte’s passport by Brazilian authorities after claims he “lied about being robbed” according to the Mirror.
Police searched for Lochte and three other USA swimmers who reported that they were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi early Sunday morning.
“I know that Ryan didn’t want this to turn into what it did”, Jeff Ostrow, Lochte’s attorney said.
As for where the swimmers are now, the U.S. Olympic Committee says Lochte and Feigen left the Olympic Village along with the rest of the swim team, following the end of their competitions in Rio.
“It seems the alleged victims found their physical and psychological integrity were unshaken, even fooling about with each other”, said the judge, referring to footage from security cameras in the Olympic Village. A string of armed robberies have occurred during the games, with one athlete claiming that he was actually briefly kidnapped and robbed by the police just days before the Olympics began.
Lochte supposedly told authorities that “a robber” approached the swimmers and demanded they hand over their money after the cab they were riding in was pulled over.
USA media quoted a lawyer for Lochte, who won a gold medal with the USA relay team and is the second-most medalled Olympic swimmer after Michael Phelps, saying the swimmer had already returned to the US.
The sources said the judge was considering whether to ask the swimmers to return to Brazil to give testimony or allow them to do so in the United States. “I refused, I was like, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground'”.
Brazilian police were searching for U.S. Olympic gold medalist swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen on Wednesday after a judge issued an order preventing them from leaving the country until they clarified their accounts of how they were robbed at gunpoint.
The freaky Ryan Lochte case took another turn on Wednesday afternoon.
“I’m just happy he’s safe”, the elder Lochte said.
Ostrow said Lochte, a gold medal victor in Rio, had “fully cooperated with the Brazilian authorities while in Rio”.
He said he could not confirm the swimmers’ location for security reasons.
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A police official told The Associated Press authorities have not been able to verify that the robbery took place.
