Hours after local police in Rio have recommended that Ryan Lochte and James Feigen face charges of false reporting of a crime, Lochte’s lawyer is speaking out.
“I am not aware of the federal police recommending charges for filing a false report. I am not surprised to hear it though. They’ve gone this far and have failed to acknowledge that the robbery actually took place, so that would be the natural next step,” Jeffrey Ostrow said in a statement to Yahoo..
“A gun was pointed at the swimmers and they were forced to get out of their cab and give up their money. No matter what happened at the gas station, the swimmers were robbed by people with a gun appearing to be law enforcement. No matter what country you are in that is robbery and robbery is a serious crime.”
The statement comes on the heels of reports that the other two swimmers on the U.S. Olympics team that were involved, Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, had checked into a departing flight out of Brazil headed to America.
During a press conference earlier today, Chief of Civil police of Rio Fernando Veloso told reporters that they were unable to confirm that there was a robbery the way it was reported or claimed by the athletes.
Veloso was careful to note that the investigation is still underway and that they still have yet to speak with other witnesses, one of the swimmers confirmed the version of the new story that there was no robbery against the athletes.
According to local police, the unnamed swimmer narrated a version that aligns with the evidence, testimonies, witnesses and surveillance footage from that night.