Lochte left Brazil shortly after the incident and three days later, local authorities took Conger and Bentz off a plane heading to the United States so they could be questioned about the robbery claim. Those findings will be subsequently sent to the proper federal USA law enforcement agency, police said. A copy of the indictment also will be sent to the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission.
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Lochte originally claimed that he and three teammates – Gunnar Bentz, James Feigen and Jack Conger – were coming home after a night of partying when their taxi was pulled over by men pretending to be Rio police.
The swimmer later amended the details of his story and apologised for his drunken account.
But the police say he made up the story and officers produced video evidence that the group were actually challenged by security guards after they’d vandalised a petrol station toilet.
But he maintains a gun was pointed at him.
Melissa Nathan, a spokeswoman for Mr. Lochte, said he had no comment. If Lochte doesn’t return to face the charge, he could be tried in absentia.
US swimmer Ryan Lochte lost all four of his commercial endorsers following a deceitful jaunt at the Rio Olympics.
Now that smoke has cleared from #LochteGate, highly criticized athlete Ryan Lochte has been officially charged by the Brazillian authorities.
He is accused of filing a false police report over the vandalism incident at a Rio gas station. His teammate Jimmy Feigen donated $11k to charity in exchange for his charges to be dropped.
USA TODAY notes that an unidentified source close to the deal confirmed that the swimmer would join the TV dance competition this fall.
After being dropped by four major sponsors this week, Ryan Lochte picked up a new one Thursday with Pine Bros.
According to Brazilian law, the maximum penalty for falsely filing a report to the police could carry up to 18 months in jail. Lochte fabricated a tale that he was robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro during the Olympics.
Pine Bros, however, has said it would launch a series of ads featuring Lochte with the slogan: “Forgiving on Your Throat”.
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“I’m confident that Pine Bros fans will support our decision to give Ryan a second chance”, he said.
