United States swimmer James Feigen to pay donation following ‘fake’ robbery in Rio

James Feigen – one of the four USA swimmers, including Ryan Lochte, involved in a robbery scandal in Rio de Janeiro – will donate around $10,800 to charity and then leave Brazil, his lawyer said, according to the Associated Press. The gold-medal winners were intoxicated and at least one of them vandalized a bathroom.

Lochte, together with fellow US swimmers Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and Jimmy Feigen, are accused of having fabricated a story about being robbed by gunmen posing as policemen.

A Brazilian court on Friday returned Feigen’s passport after the swimmer made a donation of 35,000 Brazilian Real – almost $11,000 – to a Rio sports institute.

Costa said Feigen’s passport would be returned and he would be able to leave Brazil after making the payment, ABC said.

Melaragno did not specify where the money will go, but his use of the term institution can be taken to mean a charity.

The 26-year-old, along with Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger and 12-time Olympic medallist Ryan Lochte, were reported to have been robbed at gunpoint by thieves posing as police at a petrol station in Rio de Janeiro last weekend. They arrived in Miami at 6:30 a.m. Friday.

Late Sunday morning, the swimmers were involved in an altercation at a gas station in Rio de Janeiro that culminated in local security pulling guns on them and asking for money for damages. One guard told investigators he drew his weapon to get control of the large, drunk athletes.

“No robbery was committed against these athletes”. Rio’s civilian police chief Fernando Veloso has now ruled out any possibility that the crime occurred.

They had testified about the incident earlier in the day.

The U.S. Olympic team has sought to draw a line under the scandal which has embarrassed the host city and angered ordinary Brazilians who jeered Bentz and Conger, calling them “liars” and “fakes” as they made their way out of Brazil on Thursday.

On Wednesday, Feigen checked in for a flight online but didn’t show up at the airport, sources told NBC News.

Brazilian police have denounced Lochte’s account as a fabrication created to cover up for the group’s bad behaviour after a night spent partying until dawn, prompting apologies from both Lochte and the U.S. Olympic Committee this week.

Bentz and Conger “were heard only as witnesses”.