TMZ : Manti Te’o not-really-dead-girlfriend hoax was perpetuated by a man named Ronaiah Tuiasosopo — who served as a representative for the family of the fake “Lennay Kekua” … and TMZ has the photo proof.
Here’s what we know … While Manti was “dating” Lennay … a Notre Dame die-hard fan who we’ll call “Jan” (to protect her identity) reached out to Lennay on Twitter and began an online friendship.
After Lennay’s supposed death, Jan became involved with a group called “Wear a Lei 4 Manti” — in which fans wore Hawaiian leis to ND football games to show their support for the football star.
When the “Wear a Lei 4 Manti” movement began to receive media attention, Jan says she noticed she gained a Twitter follower named U’ilani Rae Kekua.
Jan tells TMZ … she reached out to U’ilani and asked if she was related to Lennay — to which U’ilani replied, “Yes, that’s my baby sister.” The two became friends. In fact, Jan says they both mentioned how they were going to attend the Notre Dame vs. USC game in L.A. on November 24, 2012 … so Jan sent U’ilani her cell phone number in case she wanted to meet up.
Here’s where the story takes a turn … Jan tells TMZ she got a phone call from U’ilani on the day of the game directing her to the famous Tommy Trojan statue in front of the stadium, so they could meet up.
But when Jan arrived to the statue, U’ilani was NOT there … but guess who was — Ronaiah Tuiasosopo. Jan and Ronaiah even took a photo together (see above).