It was a crime that made headlines all across the U.S.: Ryan Lochte and fellow Olympic swimmers—Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen—were robbed by armed men claiming to be police officers in Rio while taking a taxi to the Olympic Village after leaving a party early Sunday morning.
According to an interview with Matt Lauer from The Today Show, Lochte stated that on the night of the robbery they had stopped at a gas station after leaving the party. Upon leaving the gas station, Lochte stated that “the taxi driver did not move, and it was then that two robbers with guns and badges approached the car and ordered [us] out of the vehicle and onto the ground,” NBC News reports.
However, Brazilian authorities are now saying that the Olympic swimmers fabricated this story, NBC News reports.
According to The New York Times, upon reviewing video images, Brazilian authorities stated that there was no evidence of an armed robbery. Instead, footage shows the swimmers damaging a bathroom door at the gas station, as well as the swimmers talking to a manager and a security guard. The swimmers allegedly paid the manager for the damage before leaving—about $50 in total, according to NBC.
“Unfortunately, the swimmers told one lie after another,” a Brazilian police official who reviewed the video images told the Times. “We’ve been able to determine that there was no armed assault.” Keyla Blanc de Cnop, a Brazilian judge, said in a court statement that Lochte and Feigen gave contradictory accounts of the robbery to Brazilian officials, NBC reports. There were discrepancies in the time of their departure from the party and how many robbers there were.
And now, the Times has reported that Brazilian officials have ordered the swimmers to stay in the country and surrender their passports as the investigation unfolds. However, Lochte had already left Brazil and arrived in the U.S.
On Wednesday night, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz were removed from their flight to the U.S. by Brazilian authorities.
The supposed robbery had become an embarrassment for the host country, with Brazilians wondering why the swimmers would lie about such an event and smear their country’s reputation, the Times reports. Brian Winter, Vice President for Policy at Americas Society and Council of the Americas told the Times, “This incident has caused so much damage to Rio’s brand abroad that I think Brazilians deserve a clear, consistent account of what happened.”
The swimmers are said to be questioned again by authorities, and Lochte has stated that he will remain cooperative, according to NBC.