James Feigen, one of the four swimmers in the United States Olympics team who had falsely claimed they were robbed at gunpoint on Sunday morning, has agreed to pay $11,000 in donation to a Brazilian charity in order to avoid being prosecuted. 

Feigen's lawyer in Rio, Breno Melaragno Costa, said the swimmer will donate the amount to a charity called Reaction Institute, ABC News reported. Four American swimmers were caught in a controversy this week over a false robbery claim.

The United States Olympics Committee has apologised for the false claims made by its swimmers. 

U.S. Olympics team issues apology

Three of the four swimmers who were questioned by the Brazilian authorities said that "they were not victims of the crimes they claimed," BBC reported. Jack Conger and Gunnar Bentz, who were made to deboard an airplane on Wednesday, were allowed to fly back to their home country on Thursday evening after the authorities had questioned them.

Of the other two, Ryan Lochte, a 12-time Olympic medallist, had already left Brazil. The other swimmer, James Feigen remains in Brazil.

Rio's civil police head Fernando Veloso told BBC that the four American athletes had not been robbed. "No robbery was committed against these athletes. They were not victims of the crimes they claimed."

The U.S. Olympics Committee issued a statement saying:
"The behavior of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA or the conduct of the vast majority of its members. We will further review the matter, and any potential consequences for the athletes, when we return to the United States.

On behalf of the United States Olympic Committee, 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 USOC statement confirmed the version of events given by Mr Veloso, and added that "the behaviour of these athletes is not acceptable, nor does it represent the values of Team USA".

While investigating the alleged robbery, the Brazilian police had arrived at the conclusion that the incident did not take place. They also believed that Lochte had filed a false complaint. The two detained swimmers were the only ones who supported Lochte's complaint.

What had happened?

The athletes had claimed that they were allegedly robbed at gunpoint by attackers who were dressed up as local police, when they were on their way back to the athletes' village from a party on Sunday morning.

The swimmers had reportedly given contradictory statements to the Brazilian authorities when they were being questioned about the incident.

According to a local Brazilian judge, the men said that the robbery took place when they were on their way back to the hotel on Sunday at around 4 a.m. local time. However, video footage showed the swimmers leaving the club at a different time, NBC news reported.

In another instance, Lochte had told the local police that there was one robber, while Feigen said there were more than one, and that one of the robbers had a gun.