A statement by the USOC confirmed claims by the Brazilian police that Lochte and his three teammates were not robbed, and the intoxicated athletes instead vandalised a petrol station toilet and were questioned by armed guards before they paid for the damage and left. I accept responsibility for my role in this happening and have learned from valuable lessons.
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Lochte’s team-mates Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger landed in Miami on Friday after testifying about the alleged robbery.
In a settlement decision, a Brazilian judge ordered Feigen to pay 35,000 Reais (about $11,000) on Friday.
Mario Andrada, the spokesman for the local organizers of the Rio Games and the man who called the four swimmers “kids who were training under stress”, says “We accept and appreciate his (Lochte) apology”. The saga was an enormous embarrassment for the U.S. Olympic team, which has dominated in the medal count.
Early on Friday, Lochte posted a letter of apology on his Twitter account.
“No robbery was committed against these athletes”.
Lochte left the country on either Monday or Tuesday – before the warrants were issued.
Bentz and Conger “were heard only as witnesses. They made a mistake, it is part of life”.
The lawyer for the pair say their testimony to police was not “untruthful” and they “did not lie in their statements”.
Judge Keyla Blank handed down the order in light of “contradictions in the swimmers’ reports”, according to a statement from the court, and their seemingly chipper demeanor on surveillance footage taken not long after they say they were mugged. “Their passports have been released and they recently departed Rio”, he said. The fourth, James Feigen, was still in Brazil.
Though police appear mostly finished with their probe, the case may be far from settled.
On Thursday, Brazilian officials recommended that Lochte and Feigen face charges of false reporting of a crime, a civil police spokesperson said.
An attorney for Lochte, Jeff Ostrow, brushed off suggestions of conflicting stories, saying the four swimmers’ accounts “are 95% consistent”.
One thing they do agree on: A gun was brandished and money exchanged hands.
Lochte and three USA swimmers said they were robbed at gunpoint early Sunday, with Lochte saying their cab was pulled over by men impersonating police officers.
There was no evidence of violence against the athletes, police noted.
However, the stories seem to diverge at a single point – when Lochte re-entered a taxi after stopping at the gas station.
The swimmers eventually talk with station workers and their cab leaves.
Developments came rapidly after police asserted that the swimmers had not been robbed. Veloso said the guards did not use excessive force and would have been justified in drawing their weapons because the athletes “were conducting themselves in a violent way”.
“They stopped at a gas station to use the restroom, where one of the athletes committed an act of vandalism”, the United States statement said. They then began an investigation that included interviews of the swimmers, who admitted that details of the night were hazy because they had been drinking.
Police said they became suspicious after the swimmers still had their watches when returning to the athletes’ village – items likely to be stolen in a street robbery.
USA tabloid press dubbed him “The Ugly American” and “The Lochte Mess Monster”, turning on the once-beloved champion and saying his behaviour fed the worst stereotypes of Americans overseas.
“I am unsure why, but while we were in that area, Ryan pulled to the ground a framed metal advertisement that was loosely anchored to the brick wall”. After Lochte refused to get down, he said a man cocked a gun and pressed it against his head.
Brazil has deployed 85,000 police and soldiers to secure the Olympics.
“The story did have some sense of validity but it didn’t bear out and it made them look bad worldwide”, he said. Bentz and Conger talked with authorities on Thursday and were whisked through airport security and got on a plane that night.
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Michael Phelps finally broke his silence on the Ryan Lochte scandal. He finished fifth in his only individual event and swam on the victorious 4×200-meter freestyle relay.
