RIO DE JANEIRO – A Brazilian judge has ordered that the passports of American Olympic swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen be seized after differences emerged in their accounts of an armed robbery they said they suffered last weekend.
Judge Keyla Blanc from a special magistrates court set up for big sporting events ruled that there were “possible divergences” in the versions both swimmers had given police of the robbery.
In a statement released on the court’s website on Wednesday, Blanc said that in Lochte’s testimony to police, he said that the athletes had been stopped by one robber in the early hours of Aug. 14, who demanded all their money ($400). Blanc said that Feigen, however, said that the athletes were surprised by some robbers, but that only one was armed.
And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, ‘Get down,’ and I put my hands up. I was like, ‘Whatever
The swimmers had been at a birthday celebration and dance party at Club France, an Olympic hospitality venue beside the Rodrigo de Freitas lagoon, with Thiago Pereira, a Brazilian swimmer, and Pereira’s, wife Gabriela Pauletti. Pereira and his wife left the party before the Americans, who told police they caught a taxi at a nearby gas station.
Lochte told NBC that he and three other swimmers, including Feigen, were robbed when their taxi was stopped after leaving the dance party. The three other swimmers were made to lie on the ground, but Lochte refused to join them.
“And then the guy pulled out his gun, he cocked it, put it to my forehead and he said, ‘Get down,’ and I put my hands up. I was like, ‘Whatever,’ ” he said.
Another doubt highlighted by the Brazilian judge concerns the time the swimmers reached the Athletes’ Village. Security camera footage obtained by the Daily Mail shows them passing through a security check just before 7 a.m. – at least four hours after they were supposed to have left the party. In the footage, Lochte jokingly hit Feigen over the head with his Olympic credential.
“It was perceived that the supposed victims arrived with their physical and psychological integrity unshaken, even making jokes with each other,” the judge said, according to the court statement.
According to news reports, Lochte is back in the United States. It is unclear whether the other athletes are in Brazil or not – in a statement, the U.S. Olympic Committee declined to disclose their whereabouts.
“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. The swim team moved out of the village after their competition ended, so we were not able to make the athletes available,” said Patrick Sandusky, chief external affairs officer of the U.S. Olympic Committee, in an emailed statement.
“Additionally, as part of our standard security protocol, we do not make athlete travel plans public and therefore cannot confirm the athletes’ current location. We will continue to cooperate with Brazilian authorities,” Sandusky said.