Lochte and three other USA swimmers claimed they were robbed at gunpoint.
Advertisement
But friends of Lochte are gearing up for a renewed defense of the 32-year-old, amid claims of inconsistencies in the police account of the events at a Shell gas station in Rio at 6am on the secnd Sunday of the Olympics.
Fox News reports that there is no penalty if Lochte doesn’t appear in front of the Justice Department, but that the swimmer will not be able to engage in a plea deal if he is not present.
After the Rio robbery debacle, the U.S. Olympic swimmer will make an appearance on the show.
The 12-time medal victor is facing punishment by the US Olympic Committee after it emerged that he had vandalized a gas station following a wild night out with three fellow swimmers and that his account to the public and to police was untrue. Both men were allowed to fly home a day later, with local crowds jeering at them, calling them “liars” and “fakes”. The swimmers’ version of the story unraveled when police said there was little evidence to support a robbery.
The situation escalated, with Lochte’s three team mates eventually prevented from leaving the country as they were quizzed by police over the incident, however Lochte had already returned to the US.
Video surveillance at the gas station showed the swimmers getting into a confrontation with the station’s security guards after they were got vandalizing the bathroom.
As a result of the scandal, Lochte has lost four of his major sponsorship deals since the Olympics ended. NBC News reported that Lochte said he and his teammates weren’t pulled over, as he had previously stated, but that they were at a gas station when they were robbed.
Advertisement
It remains to be seen if he’ll dance his way out of trouble in Rio. Three days later, he told NBC that he and the other swimmers were “victims” and that he hadn’t made up the story.
