Brazilian Authorities Pull Two US Swimmers Off Flight Out Of Rio [Update]

This whole story about US swimmers Ryan Lochte, Gunnar Bentz, Jack Conger, and Jimmy Feigen maybe or maybe not getting robbed at gunpoint by men who were maybe posing as Brazilian police officers is fishy and riddled with inconsistencies. Brazilian police cast doubt on Lochte’s story, and earlier today, a Brazilian judge ordered Lochte and Feigen to remain in Brazil to answer questions about the alleged robbery. Lochte is already out of the country, but apparently, Bentz and Conger got pulled off their plane by Brazilian authorities. They were not initially named by the judge, but are apparently now stuck in Rio.

We’ll update this post as more information becomes available.

Update, 10:11 p.m. EDT: The New York Times has more from the tarmac:

Agents from Brazil’s Federal Police, an investigative force that oversees Brazil’s borders, removed Conger and Bentz from an American Airlines plane on the tarmac at Rio’s Galeão International Airport, according to local news reports. Investigators from Rio’s Tourism Police had asked for their passports to be seized so they could respond to questioning in the case.

Shortly after they were removed from the plane, the two men were shown on the Globo television network as they were escorted to a police station in the airport. They declined to talk to television reporter at the entrance to the station.