According to The Associated Press, Feigen, Bentz and Conger will not be allowed to leave Brazil until they testify about the alleged robbery. The two were taken off their flight from.
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Lochte has already returned to the USA, and Conger and Bentz boarded a plane later Wednesday only to be removed by the authorities.
The U.S. State Department issued a statement Wednesday encouraging those involved to cooperate with Brazilian law enforcement. The two were taken off their flight from Brazil to the U.
Sergio Riera, a well-known Brazilian criminalist who is the attorney for Conger and Bentz, spoke in Portuguese with reporters about his clients at the airport.
(AP Photo/Mauro Pimentel). American Olympic swimmers Gunnar Bentz, left, and Jack Conger, center, leave the police station at Rio International airport early Thursday Aug. 18, 2016.
The four swimmers said they had been robbed at gunpoint in a taxi in Rio.
Daytona Beach’s Ryan Lochte said robbers posing as police pointed a gun at his head and took his money.
Two of the U.S. swimmers who were with Ryan Lochte during his alleged robbery in Rio were removed from their plane by Brazilian authorities on Wednesday night, the U.S. Olympic Committee confirmed.
Two Olympic swimmers were taken off their flight from Brazil to the US on Wednesday by local authorities amid an investigation into a reported robbery targeting Ryan Lochte and his teammates.
“The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available”, said U.S. Olympic Committee spokesman Patrick Sandusky said at the time.
UPDATE 2: Jimmy Feigen has surfaced after missing his flight home from Rio. He didn’t provide details. The swimmers did not speak to reporters upon leaving the airport and getting shuttled away in a black auto waiting outside.
Reached Thursday in Austin, Texas, Feigen attorney Mark Hull said: “We don’t have any comment yet at this point”.
“All are represented by counsel and being appropriately supported by the USOC and the U.S. Consulate in Rio”, Sandusky said.
The action comes amid increasing tension between Brazilian authorities and the American swimmers over the ever-changing account of the robbery.
Police previously said the swimmers were unable to provide key details during interviews.
A judge ruled earlier Wednesday that Lochte and Feigen were to turn over their passports and remain in Brazil.
We got pulled over, in the taxi, and these guys came out with a badge, a police badge, no lights, no nothing, just a police badge and they pulled us over.
NBC reported Wednesday night that Lochte backed off some of his earlier claims.
He now says the taxi was not pulled over but that they were robbed after stopping at a petrol station, NBC reported. Lochte also told Lauer that authorities never questioned his truthfulness, and even congratulated him on his performance at the Rio Games, where he won a gold medal in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay.
Local police arrived at the Olympic Village this a.m. and asked to meet with Ryan Lochte and James Feigen and collect their passports in order to secure further testimony from the athletes.
Lochte’s father, Steve Lochte, told The Associated Press by phone from his Florida home that his son called him Tuesday after arriving in the United States.
Elder Lochte declared that his son told him he was going to pick up his vehicle, and he was planning to replace the stolen wallet by a new one.
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Steve Lochte said his son and the other three swimmers were just lucky of being safe after such disappointing incident. The other three men were stopped by police at Rio’s worldwide airport on Wednesday evening, one police source said.
