A U.S. Olympic swimmer has accused his team mate, Ryan Lochte, of playing a key role in an incident that has tainted South America’s first Games, saying he tore a poster off a wall and argued with armed security guards at a Rio gas station.
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Gold medalist James Feigen agreed to pay $10,800, which is 35,000 in Brazilian currency, in exchange for his seized passport, his lawyer, Breno Melaragno, confirmed (via CBS News).
“Melaragno did not specify where the money will go, but the term “institution” can be taken to mean charity”, the wire service reported.
Authorities have said that USA swimmer Ryan Lochte, Feigen and teammates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were not robbed as they made their way back to the Olympic Village from a party on Sunday as Lochte initially claimed said.
A spokesperson for the U.S. Olympic Committee said in a statement earlier this week that Feigen, Lochte, Conger and Bentz were headed to Olympic Village early Sunday when their taxi cab was stopped by armed robbers posing as police officers. Police say they vandalized a bathroom at a gas station and fabricated a story about a robbery.
A US Olympic swimmer involved in an alleged robbery in Rio has agreed to make a payment of almost NZD$15,000 to settle the dispute. “They did not make any untruthful testimony”. “They were not victims of the crimes they claimed”. However, Conger and Bentz were pulled off of a departing plane on Wednesday for questioning, where the resulting stories matched that of the Brazilian police.
Lochte returned to the United States on Monday, a day after the incident and before police denounced his version.
“No robbery was committed against these athletes”, Civil Police Chief Fernando Veloso said in a news conference. “I refused, I was like, ‘We didn’t do anything wrong, so – I’m not getting down on the ground'”. He’s been back home for days, out of reach of Brazilian authorities.
But Brazilian authorities said there were inconsistencies in the swimmers’ accounts of the alleged crime.
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That outrage was evident on Thursday, as onlookers shouted “liars” and “shameful” at Bentz and Conger as they left a police station where they gave statements.
