The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Brazil charges Lochte over robbery report
Swimmer had claimed he, others robbed at gunpoint.
RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazilian police charged American swimmer Ryan Lochte on Thursday with filing a false robbery report over an incident during the Olympics in Rio de Janeiro.
A police statement said Lochte, who returned to the United States after the games, would be informed of the charge so he can decide whether to mount a legal defense in Brazil.
The indictment also will be sent to the International Olympic Committee’s ethics commission, the statement said.
The swimmer’s publicists and his lawyer, Jeff Ostrow, did not immediately respond to calls and emails seeking comment.
Lochte initially said that he and fellow swimmers Jack Conger, Gunnar Bentz and Jimmy Feigen were robbed at gunpoint in a taxi by men with police badges as they returned to the Olympic Village from a party Aug. 15. However, security video suggested the four actually faced security guards after vandalizing a gas station restroom.
Lochte left Brazil shortly after the incident. Three days later, local authorities took Conger and Bentz off an airliner heading to the United States so they could be questioned about the robbery claim. They were later allowed to leave Brazil, as was Feigen, who also was questioned.
Feigen, who initially stood by Lochte’s account, was not charged.
Lochte has since acknowledged that he was highly intoxicated during the encounter and that his behavior led to the confrontation. It is not clear from the video whether a gun was ever pointed at the athletes.
Under Brazilian law, the penalty for falsely filing a crime report is a maximum of 18 months in prison. Lochte could be tried in absentia if he does not return to face the charge.
The United States and Brazil have an extradition treaty dating back to the 1960s, but Brazil has a long history of not extraditing its own citizens to other nations and U.S. authorities could take the same stance if Lochte is found guilty.
That is currently the case with the head of Brazil’s football confederation, Marco Polo del Nero, who faces charges in the wide-ranging scandal entangling international soccer’s ruling body, FIFA. He has not traveled outside Brazil for more than a year to avoid being arrested by U.S. authorities.
The charges in Brazil raise questions about the future for Lochte, who is planning to take time off from swimming but wants to return to compete in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He has 12 Olympic medals, second only to fellow swimmer Michael Phelps among U.S. male Olympians.