United States swimmer Jimmy Feigen to pay $11K to leave Brazil

Ryan Lochte accepted more responsibility for his role in a late-night incident during the Rio Olympics that drew worldwide attention after he said he and three teammates had been robbed at gunpoint and local police called that a fabrication.

The lawyer for a third United States swimmer said he would make a payment of 35,000 Brazilian reals (£8,200) and leave Brazil later in the day.

Breno Melaragno said under the agreement, Feigen will make the donation, get his passport back and depart.

Bentz, who was pulled off a flight in Brazil on Wednesday, but was allowed to return home after speaking to police, said that he, Lochte and two other swimmers, Jack Conger and James Feigen, stopped at a gas station to use the bathroom after leaving an event with swimmers from different nations.

Eventually, a judge issued search and seizure warrants for the passports of Lochte and Feigen, but Lochte had already flown to the U.S.

In his account of last week’s incident, Gunnar Bentz said the guards confronted them after they had urinated behind bushes near a petrol station.

Feigen left Brazil Friday night, after agreeing to pay $10,800 to a local charity.

Rio police on Thursday said the swimmers were not the victims of a robbery and that the story had been fabricated.

Police and Bentz said that the swimmers paid US$20 plus 100 reals, which is about US$33.

Bentz and Conger told police that they felt Lochte had lied about the situation in media interviews, according to text of the statements released by Rio police.

“That is when they started saying, ‘No police”.

“That’s why I’m taking full responsibility for it is because I over-exaggerated that story”, Lochte said.

The scandal has angered Brazilians who jeered Bentz and Conger, calling them “liars” and “fakes” as they made their way out of the country on Thursday.

Lochte, who left for the USA the day after the incident, has also apologised.

“We apologize to our hosts in Rio and the people of Brazil for this distracting ordeal in the midst of what should rightly be a celebration of excellence”, the U.S. Olympic Committee said.