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Rio prosecutor wants Feigen fine upped to $50000

RIO DE JANEIRO Aug 20 A Brazilian judge provided another twist to the saga of four US swimmers embroiled in a scandal at the Rio Games, suspending permission for one of the athletes, Jimmy Feigen, to leave the country – even though he had flown home hours earlier.

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Brazil’s justice system imposed a fine of 35,000 reais (around $10,800) on the United States swimmer James Feigen so that he could leave the country after falsely stating he had been a victim of an armed assault along with three of his other teammates in Rio de Janeiro, local media reported on Friday.

Bentz and Conger were banned from flying back to the USA on Wednesday evening and after providing a police statement admitting that the original accusation was a lie.

US Olympic swimmer Ryan Lochte, who claimed that he was robbed at gunpoint in a Rio taxi, has apologised for his behaviour.

He accepted responsibility for his role in “taking the focus away from the many athletes fulfilling their dreams of participating in the Olympics”. This was when they attempted to leave, but were asked to get out of their taxi by the gas station’s two security guards.

Lochte said in a statement on Sunday that a robber had put a gun to his forehead and demanded the group’s wallets after going to a party after they finished competing.

Lochte returned to the United States on Monday, a day after the incident and before police denounced his version.

The story turned out not to be true and Lochte apologised earlier on Friday.

In the United States, Lochte came in for some serious scorn, with comments in the media and on the Internet nearly universally scathing.

But Rio police said the story was fabricated.

Bentz said with the help of an interpreter, the guard pointing a gun at them demanded that they pay for knocking down the sign post if they wanted to leave. “They stopped at a gas station to use the restroom, where one of the athletes committed an act of vandalism”.

Lochte said that he had waited to comment further on the issue until he was sure that his three teammates could travel home.

The Olympic Charter allows for athletes to be disciplined “in the case of any violation of the Olympic Charter … or of any applicable public law or regulation, or in case of any form of misbehavior”.

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“There has already been too much said and too many valuable resources dedicated to what happened last weekend, so I hope we spend our time celebrating the great stories and performance of these Games and look ahead to celebrating future successes”, he wrote.

Ryan Lochte reacts after the Men's 200m Individual Medley Final in Rio de Janeiro Brazil on Aug. 8