As the Ryan Lochte saga continues to unfold, one swimmer involved is doing everything he can to distance himself from the situation.
Team USA swimmer Jimmy Feigen has agreed to pay roughly $11,000 in the hopes of reclaiming his passport from Brazilian authorities and being allowed to return home to the United States. Feigen’s payment — 35,000 reals, or about $10,800 — will be made to a Brazilian charity called Reaction Institute, according to his lawyer.
Feigen, who helped Team USA win gold in the 4×100 meter freestyle, will receive his passport and be granted free passage home after making the payment, which he is expected to do Friday, per his lawyer.
Feigen is one of four U.S. swimmers involved in a bizarre incident early Sunday morning. Lochte initially claimed in an interview that he, Feigen and two other swimmers — Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz — were robbed at gunpoint at a gas station.
But a recently released surveillance video cast Lochte’s story into serious doubt, and Lochte and Feigen reportedly could face serious charges for falsifying the report they filed with Rio de Janeiro police.
Feigen was the only U.S. swimmer still in Brazil as of Friday morning; Lochte flew home before police could detain him, while Conger and Bentz, who were removed from their flight and detained Wednesday, finally were allowed to return home Thursday after testifying to local authorities.
Thumbnail photo via Erich Schlegel/USA TODAY Sports Images
