Lawyer: Hoaxer Ronaiah Tuiasosopo Pretended To Be "Lennay" During Phone Calls With Manti Te'o

According to his lawyer, Ronaiah Tuiasosopo, the man behind the Manti Te'o dead-girlfriend hoax, was the person who posed as "Lennay Kekua" during phone calls with the Notre Dame linebacker. Skeptical? Well, don't worry. Tuiasosopo's attorney, Milton Grimes, has a pretty airtight explanation for how his client was able to pull off such a tremendous deception. He tells the :

"Come on, Hollywood does it all the time," Grimes said Wednesday. "People can do that."

Recall: Te'o told ESPN's Jeremy Schaap that Ronaiah had two accomplices, a man and a woman, who helped him carry out the hoax. It was assumed that the woman Te'o mentioned was the one who impersonated Kekua over the phone. Now, it's even more unclear what those two accomplices contributed to the hoax.

Grimes went on to tell the Daily News that Tuiasosopo's motivation for carrying out the hoax was not sinister. He described his client as a person with a "troubled existence" who was trying to "communicate and have a relationship." Grimes also stated that his client does eventually want to tell his side of the story. We're all looking forward to that moment.

[ NYDN]