Ryan Lochte Could Still Face Charges in Brazil

(ATR) Nearly two years after the Olympic Games, a new twist to the legal drama surrounding U.S. swimmer Ryan Lochte.

The Public Ministry of Rio de Janeiro won an appeal that overturned a court ruling which dropped charges of filing a false police report following the 2016 Olympics. The ruling paves the way for Rio prosecutors to continue to pursue charges against the American swimmer.

In a statement the ministry said it would continue to pursue charges, which carry a sentence of up to six months in prison or a fine. The ministry hailed the court’s decision saying Lochte "through interviews, communicated the occurrence of a criminal offense that he knows not to have verified".

"Recordings [from inside] the Olympic Village and the gas station, obtained by the police, indicated that the robbery did not happen," the ministry statement continued. "In fact, he and the other athletes publicly urinated and depredated a gas station, inventing the crime of theft to cover up these facts."

Lochte caused an international incident after giving an interview on NBC where he said that he and three other American swimmers were robbed at gunpoint when returning home from an event. Security footage showed four American swimmers being stopped by a security guard after causing some minor damage at a gas station in Barra da Tijuca.

Authorities were quickly dispatched to the Olympic Village to get statements from the swimmers, who moved quickly to leave the Olympics after completing their events. Both Lochte and swimmer Jimmy Feigen were charged by police for crafting false statements, which led to Feigen being removed from an airplane at Rio's international airport.

Feigen eventually took a plea deal with Rio prosecutors, and agreed to donate $10,000 to a local charity to avoid a trial. That charity wound up being the Instituto Reação which produced judoka Rafaela Silva, Brazil’s first gold medal winner at the Rio Olympics. The donation helped build a wall to fully enclose a practice space for young Brazilian judokas who hail from Rio’s favelas.

Following an investigation Lochte was suspended by the USOC for 10 months and was dropped by many of his sponsors. He has since said he will train to compete at the Tokyo 2020 Olympics.

Requests for comment from USA Swimming and Lochte’s agent were not returned.

Under Brazilian law Lochte can be represented by a domestic lawyer in a trial, and a subpoena was reportedly issued for him to testify. However, it is unlikely for Lochte would return to Brazil.

Hickey Trial Gets New Prosecutor

The prosecutor in charge of the trial against suspended IOC member Patrick Hickey is no longer on the case.

Marcos Kac confirmed to Around the Rings in a text message that he had "assumed other functions" and was no longer working the case. ATR could not immediately verify who was appointed as the new prosecutor on the case.

Kac is a high-profile prosecutor in Rio de Janeiro who has litigated cases of ticket touting related to the 2014 World Cup. Kac was the prosecutor on the case of Ray Whelan, who was arrested after allegedly evading the police in a high profile investigation during the World Cup in Brazil.

Whelan’s treatment was brought up in the wake of Hickey’s arrest, as the ticketing executive was eventually cleared of charges brought against him.

Hickey was arrested during the Rio 2016 Olympics on charges of ticket touting and illegally marketing the Rio Olympics. Earlier, Brazilian police arrested THG executive Kevin Mallon and seized a number of Rio 2016 tickets allocated to the Olympic Council of Ireland. The OCI’s ticket reseller for Rio 2016 was a company known as Pro10, which became reseller after THG was rejected by the Rio organizing committee.

A trial date of Nov. 29, 2017 was delayed when Mallon’s lawyer secured an injunction from the Brazilian Supreme Court. Requests for comment from Mallon’s lawyer about the current state of the case were not returned.

Written by Aaron Bauer

For general comments or questions, click here .

25 Years at # 1: Your best source for news about the Olympics is AroundTheRings.com , for subscribers only.