The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation is ongoing.
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According to reports, authorities said that Bentz and Conger will not be allowed to leave the country till they testify about the robbery and that their passports have been “temporarily confiscated by a court order”.
He said his son’s Olympic credentials and mobile phone were not taken during the incident early on Sunday morning.
Wednesday evening, swimmers Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were pulled off a plane scheduled to depart Rio de Janeiro, according to NBC’s Peter Alexander. The USOC confirmed late Wednesday that Conger and Bentz had been removed from their return flights, while NBC News reported that Feigen had checked in online from the airport but never boarded his plane.
A statement from the United States Olympic Committee confirmed the men are still in Rio. However, authorities have announced that Lochte’s and Feigen’s statements regarding the incident are contradictory. “We are gathering further information”.
Stay with News 10 for updates.
Authorities said the swimmers did not call police, and officials only began investigating after seeing media reports in which Lochte’s mother had discussed the robbery.
Brazilian police now say they’ve found little evidence to support their accounts, and that the swimmers were unable to provide key details in police interviews.
The video in question, posted on Britain’s Daily Mail tabloid website, shows the four swimmers passing through an X-ray machine, taking what could be wallets or mobile phones from their pockets.
“One sees that the supposed victims arrived with their physical and psychological integrity intact, even playing with each other, showing that there wasn’t any psychological shock inherent to such alleged violence”, the statement read.
“We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing just a police badge and they pulled us over”, Lochte said.
Safe from the Brazilian justice system, Mr Lochte has expanded on his story. Police on Wednesday yet again issued an appeal for the driver to contact them.
Lauer also said he asked Lochte if the robbery story was a cover for some sort of embarrassing behavior.
A central question right now regards the whereabouts of Feigen, 26; earlier today, we saw reports that he, like Lochte, had returned back home in the U.S. But tonight, we’re seeing reports that Feigen may have checked in for the same flight as Bentz and Conger but was not detained by police.
A judge ruled earlier Wednesday that Lochte and Feigen were to turn over their passports and remain in Brazil.
“I wouldn’t make up a story like this nor would the others – as a matter of fact we all feel it makes us look bad”, Lauer said, quoting Lochte. If they need to get in touch with me, we have always been fully cooperating.
The 12-time medalist said that, after the swimming portion of the 2016 Summer Games ended on Saturday night, he and his teammates went to the France House to celebrate.
“When he talked to me tonight, he said, ‘that’s when the guy pointed the gun in my direction and cocked it.’ And I pointedly said to him, ‘you had said before it was placed on your forehead and cocked.’ He said, ‘No, that’s not exactly what happened.’ And I think he feels it was more of a traumatic mis-characterization”.
At first the International Olympic Committee denied anything had happened.
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Ostrow said his client, a gold medal victor in the pool in Rio, would not turn himself in if police in Brazil issued a warrant for him.
