This whole hoax of Manti Te'o and his not really dead girlfriend seems to be the spawn of Ronaiah Tuiasoso, who served as a representative for the family and the fake dead girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, TMZ has learned.  Not only that, TMZ has the photographic proof of it!

Here's what TMZ is reporting:

TMZ:

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.

From there, the story seems to curve.  Jan tells TMZ that she got a phone call from U'ilani on the day of the game, telling her to to meet up with him at the Tommy Trojan statue in front of the stadium.
According to TMZ, when Jan arrived, U'ilani wasn't there, but Ronaiah Tuiasoso was!
The 2 even took a picture together in front of the statue!
TMZ goes on with:
According to the Deadspin article, Ronaiah was the person who obtained the photo of the woman everyone believed to be Lennay ... and is suspected of having a major role in the hoax.

Jan tells us Ronaiah was with a little girl during the USC meeting who they called Pookah -- and together, they explained how Lennay's sister couldn't come down to visit, so U'ilani sent them instead. Jan says Ronaiah "made it seem as if he was a member of Lennay's family."

After the 2 took the picture together, Jan says Ronaiah began "acting funny", like he was paranoid about something, and he even told her "Don't post that photo online!"
Oh yeah, this whole story has got lies and hoax just plastered all over it!  And all it took was a little social media push.  Oh yes, the TRUE power of the Internet!

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