Now that smoke has cleared from #LochteGate, highly criticized athlete Ryan Lochte has been officially charged by the Brazillian authorities. Rio police also stated a copy of the evidence could be sent over to the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission.
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His lawyers insist they have yet to gain receipt of the charges, but state they “intend to fully co-operate” with Rio lawmakers.
As we’ve reported, Lochte told his mother, police and the press that he and three other USA swimmers were robbed at gunpoint earlier this month after thieves posing as police stopped the taxi they were traveling in.
Lochte has since apologized for the incident and for trying to cover it up, but he still had charges placed against him.
Video surveillance emerged showing the swimmers getting into a confrontation with armed security guards over alleged vandalism at a gas station where their taxi had stopped.
Lochte was embroiled in controversy at the Rio Olympic Games after a very late night on the town turned sour.
Since the Rio Olympics, Lochte has been dropped by his some of his most lucrative sponsors including Speedo and Ralph Lauren. Lochte, who returned to America shortly after the incident, could be tried in absentia should he choose not to return to Brazil.
If convicted of the charges, Lochte could face one to six months in jail, however the judge could choose to levy a fine instead. Amid the turmoil engulfing Ryan Lochte and three other U.S. swimmers over their mugging story, Rio organisers on August 18, 2016 gave them words of sympathy.
Officials in Brazil still want a piece of Ryan Lochte.
Lochte has won six Olympic gold medals, including one in Rio for his victory with the U.S. 4×200 metre freestyle relay team. But on Thursday he picked up a new sponsor Pine Bros.
Pine Bros Softish Throat Drops, which makes cough drops, said it had signed Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medalist, for a television commercial and print ads.
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