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Manti Te'o: Hoax Victim or Manipulator?
Author: Scarinci Hollenbeck, LLC
Date: January 18, 2013
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Few sports stories are as inspirational and compelling as the one of Notre Dame linebacker and 2012 Heisman Trophy runner-up Manti Te’o. After learning about the deaths of his grandmother and girlfriend in a six-hour span in September, he still managed to lead his team against the favored Michigan State in a 20-3 victory that very evening. However, the underdog story fell apart when it was revealed by Te’o that the death of his girlfriend was a hoax.
Te’o, who met and carried on an online relationship with his girlfriend, Lennay Kekua, who reportedly died of leukemia, said he received a call from her number in December saying she was not dead. Manti Te’o and his parents reported the situation to the university, which launched its own investigation. Notre Dame released a statement saying Te’o had in fact been duped by a girlfriend he had never met in person, and that “someone using the fictitious name Lennay Kekua apparently ingratiated herself with Manti and then conspired with others to lead him to believe she had tragically died of leukemia.”
However, a number of elements don’t add up, which have led some to believe the hoax may have been a publicity stunt that Te’o himself was involved in. For example, the linebacker asserted that the relationship was strictly online, but his father told the South Bend Tribune that the two met at a football game and vacationed together in Hawaii in 2012. Te’o himself told ESPN that Kekua was “the most beautiful girl I’ve ever met.” Reporters also noted discrepancies in the dates and times of his girlfriend’s “death” in relation to that of his grandmother. Background checks, hospital and university records also reveal that no Lennay Kekua ever existed.
While the controversy may not equate to any sports law violations on the part of the linebacker, some are concerned that the discrepancies and potential involvement in the hoax may impact his credibility among the National Football League.
For more information on the Manti Te’o issue, please contact Anthony Caruso, Chair of Scarinci Hollenbeck’s Sports and Entertainment Law Group.
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