U.S. Olympic Swimmers Lied About ‘Robbery’ to Cover Up Late Night Out: Brazilian Police

UPDATED at 6 p.m. RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL — Four American swimmers made up a report that they were robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro, a Brazilian police official told the international press corps, while gold medalist Ryan Lochte's attorney stands by his account of a late-night holdup by men who posed as police.

At a Thursday afternoon press conference, Brazilian police officials said the American foursome was not robbed. “They were not victims of the crimes they claimed,” said Fernando Veloso, chief of civil police, according to a USA Today account.

Police said they had evidence swimmers Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen vandalized a gas station after a late night out partying. And the events could not be interpreted as a robbery, Veloso said.

The swimmers reportedly made up the story after they broke a locked door at a gas station on their way back to the Olympic village, then argued with a gas station employee about the damage, say multiple media reports. The athletes paid about $60 to compensate for the damage and left.

An unnamed Brazilian police official told The Associated Press that 12-time Olympic medalist Lochte fabricated the story about being robbed at gunpoint in Rio de Janeiro, first telling his mother about the purported crime, says ESPN. The police official said Lochte's teammates — Conger, of Rockville, Maryland, and Bentz of Atlanta, who were removed from their U.S.-bound flight for questioning — have now told police that Sunday's robbery story had been fabricated.

»See New Update: Lochte Apologizes for Behavior, 2 Teammates Leave Brazil, 3rd Fined $11K

Judge Marcello Rubioli, the head of the special court handling the case that has taken on international news coverage as Brazil disputes the PR black-eye, says that making a false claim carries little punishment in the country. There is no official word that any of the four American have been cited for falsifying a police report.

“If they are found guilty, they would just have to make a payment to an NGO that does humanitarian work," Rubioli told The New York Times. "It’s not a serious crime. It’s not a crime that is going to send them to prison. It’s not a crime that’s going to prevent them from returning home.”

On Wednesday, Lochte talked to NBC's Matt Lauer and tweaked his earlier comments on the robbery. NBC News reported Wednesday night that Lochte said he and his teammates weren't pulled over, as he had previously stated, but that they were at a gas station when they were robbed. And he said that the robber pointed a gun in his direction, not at his forehead, as he had first said.

"We wouldn't make this story up," Lochte reportedly told The Today Show's Matt Lauer.

"The facts told by the swimmer seem inconsistent and, taking into consideration that the image of all of Brazil and Rio de Janeiro could be affected —the swimmer said that he was robbed by police officers, who are agents of the state — [the Bar Association] decided to send a request to the Public Ministry to investigate the possible crime of filing a possible crime of calumnious denunciation, which is also so that there are no doubts about what happened that night," Renato Teixeira de Sousa, vice president of Rio Bar Association Public Security Commission, told USA Today Sports.

Bentz, Conger, and Feigen were “in the process of scheduling a time and place” to talk with Brazilian authorities, a U.S. Olympic Committee spokesperson said Thursday, reports The Washington Post. All had legal counsel and were being supported by the USOC and the U.S. consulate in Rio.

Conger's detention stems from Lochte's previous claim that the four athletes were robbed following a party early Sunday morning. Lochte is the only one among the four swimmers who has spoken publicly of the alleged mugging, saying people wearing police uniforms held them at gunpoint demanding money.

But surveillance footage has emerged showing the four athletes returning to the Olympic village after a night of celebration for their gold medals — a return after the mugging would've taken place, given Lochte's version of events. Yet the video shows the four calm and even laughing — behavior incongruous to having just been mugged — with their valuables, including cell phones, intact.

The Washington Post reports that discrepancies have emerged in the swimmers' accounts of the robbery. The alleged incident put Olympic teams from across the globe on alert, with tightened curfews and fresh suggestions that competitors avoid areas of Rio where they could be targets.

Lochte's attorney, Jeff Ostrow, tells the Times that his client, a gold medalist at the games, stands by his statement. Ostrow claimed authorities were trying to deflect criticism. “The country has a dark cloud over it for a million and one reasons, from their economy to their crime to their management of the Olympics,” Ostrow told the paper.

Teixeira de Sousa said it's possible "one of the athletes wished to hide the time they left the party, given the rigorous regime athletes are supposed to be in during the Games. Maybe they didn't want to involve Brazilian authorities but only needed to utilize this to justify the time, but after the matter came out in the press, the situation got out of control."

The four swimmers said they left "France House" early Sunday morning in a taxi headed for the Olympic Village when the cab was stopped by individuals posing as armed police officers, according to a statement Sunday from USOC. The individuals demanded the athletes' money and personal belongings.

The thieves took the swimmers' wallets and money, but Lochte said they left his cell phone and Olympic credentials.

Conflicting reports had surfaced earlier in the day about the alleged robbery with the International Olympic Committee saying the report was not true. Lochte's mother, Ileana Lochte, told USA Today that the swimmer was robbed at gunpoint.

"They had gone to the bathroom in a gas station," Lauer said Wednesday from his phone conversation with Lochte. "They got back to the taxi, and when they told the taxi driver to go, he didn't move. They said, 'let's go' again, 'we've got to get out of here,' and again the taxi driver didn't move. And that's when he says two men approached the car with guns and badges."

The other discrepancy Lochte discussed was whether one of the robbers had actually put a gun to Lochte's forehead.

"That's not exactly what happened," Lochte said, according to a USA Today story. Lochte told Lauer one of the robbers cocked the gun and pointed it inches away from him, but not right at his forehead as he first said.

Includes reporting by Deb Belt

Photo: Gunnar Bentz and Jack Conger; Credit: Team USA/Flickr