*ABC News is now reporting that the alleged armed mugging of Ryan Lochte and three other Team USA swimmers was fabricated.
Matt Gutman of ABC News reports that there is video of Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jimmy Feigen and Jack Cognac getting into a fight at a gas station, which resulted in a restroom door being “broken down” and included a scuffle with a security guard.
#BREAKING Brazil sources: #RyanLochte + 3 swimmers fabricated robbery story. Video shows swimmer “fighting” w/security at gas station @GMA
— Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanABC) August 18, 2016
#BREAKING Brazilian authorities tell @ABC video shows “US swimmer” “breaking down” gas station restroom door “fighting” w/ security guard
— Matt Gutman (@mattgutmanABC) August 18, 2016
Lochte told NBC News’ Matt Lauer Wednesday night that the swimmers used a restroom at a gas station and when they got back to their taxi, the driver didn’t move. That’s when two men approached with guns and badges and told them to get out and get down, Lochte said.
A Brazilian police source told ABC News, however, that “one of the swimmers was seen on CCTV footage breaking down the door to the bathroom at the gas station and fighting with a security guard” on the night of the incident.
Bentz and Cognac were removed from their flight out of Brazil Wednesday to be questioned. Initially, neither Bentz nor Cognac gave statements to police. A lawyer for the two athletes said they will not be allowed to leave Brazil until they provide testimony to investigators.
Also on Wednesday, Brazilian authorities ordered the seizure of Lochte’s and Feigen’s passports due to discrepancies in their stories. The two swimmers are being investigated for falsifying a crime, a punishment that carries a maximum three-year prison sentence.
The four swimmers initially said they were robbed in the wee hours of Sunday morning. Lochte said they were taking a cab back from the French Hospitality House when men dressed as police pulled them over. Lochte said one put a gun to his head. The swimmers claimed their wallets had been taken, but surveillance video at Olympic Village shows them returning at around 7 a.m. with wallets, as well as their cell phones and jewelry.
No cab driver has come forward about the crime, nor have the swimmers been able to identify a cab driver or cab company.
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