Brazilian judge orders seizure of passports of US swimmers Lochte and Feigen after robbery report
A Brazilian judge has ordered the seizure of passports for U.S. Olympic swimmers Ryan Lochte and James Feigen while noting “possible divergences” in their accounts of an armed holdup last weekend.
A special tribunal for sporting events confirmed on Wednesday that Judge Keyla Blanc had ordered the seizure, report the Washington Post, the New York Times and the Associated Press.
Brazilian police began investigating the robbery after media reports surfaced about the robbery of Lochte and three other swimmers. Lochte told NBC the group was in a taxi after a party early Sunday when they were pulled over by men with guns and a police badge.
Lochte is already back in the United States, his father told AP. Feigen told the San Antonio Express-News that he is still in Brazil. Lochte’s lawyer, Jeff Ostrow, told the Washington Post that Lochte cooperated with police, and the incident happened “exactly the way Ryan described it” to police.
Blanc said in a statement on the court’s website that Lochte said he and other athletes were stopped by one robber who demanded money, while Feigen said there were multiple robbers, but only one had a gun.
Blanc also said security footage shows the swimmers appeared to be joking with each other as they passed through security at the Athletes’ Village after the incident.
