The athletes were with Lochte on the night he initially claimed he was robbed a gunpoint, a statement that was denied by Brazilian police.
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According to NBC, Feigen’s whereabouts are now unknown. Lochte also said the assailant pointed a gun at him rather than putting it to his head.
They are being held at the airport but are being treated well and cordially, the sources said. The swimmer maintained he had been robbed and had not made up the story.
“He didn’t say he was pulled over by these people pretending to be police”. He now says the taxi wasn’t pulled over but that they were robbed after making a stop at a gas station, NBC reported.
Feigen’s whereabouts could not immediately be confirmed, though he told the San Antonio Express-News he was still in Brazil.
Lochte, however, returned to the United States before officers could seize his passport to ensure he was available for questioning, officials said Wednesday.
Braga confirmed that Bentz and Conger were now with a civil police unit at the airport, being interviewed. “They have had their passports temporarily confiscated by a court order”.
Feigen is in Rio and said he’s cooperating with officials.
Lochte, however, had already left the country.
Braga refused to comment on recent suggestions that the robbery did not actually take place.
Braga said the United States and its diplomats were coooperating “to the full extent they were able” with the process.
When asked if it was justified to pull Olympic gold medal winning athletes from a plane, Braga was quite pragmatic.
The Bentz and Conger men had been called to testify by local police about the robbery, but did not show, according to a report from Brazilian newspaper O Globo.
Earlier, a statement from the United States Olympic Committee confirmed the men were still in Rio.
Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger were headed back to the USA on an overnight flight when federal law enforcement pulled them off the flight, Patrick Sandusky, a spokesman for the United States Olympic Committee told BuzzFeed news. Due to privacy considerations, we do not have any further information to offer.
Judge Keyla Blanc, of Brazil’s Special Tribunal for Fans and Major Events, on Wednesday ordered the seizure of the swimmers’ passports until they gave more evidence concerning the robbery, which fueled fears over security at South America’s first Games.
The armed men then demanded the men’s valuables at gunpoint, Lochte said.
Lochte told police there was one robber, while Feigen said there were more, one of whom had a gun. “He took our money, he took my wallet – he left my cell phone, he left my credentials”.
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Speaking to NBC, Lochte described a harrowing encounter with the thieves. NBC also reported that Feigen was supposed to be on the same flight as Bentz and Conger, but that he never showed up at the airport even after checking in online.
