Looks like the whole "Manti was complicit" thing is unraveling. I wonder how people's opinions of him change. It looks like he was dumb to get reeled in, but it also looks like it was pretty elaborate as they did have a girl do the talking and so on. I know a girl who this same exact scam happened to. For all I know, the same people pulled it on her. It wouldn't surprise me. She bought plane tickets to go to SoCal multiple times to see her "boyfriend" only to be told that he got called away on work and so on. Then he also got "leukemia" and up and died. She got a call from his "brother" ending the relationship.
What did they get out of it? She wasn't a "somebody" like Manti Te'o. They just liked screwing around with people's heads. They like to mess with people. They think it's funny. It is like the ultimate long con and it costs the person on the other end all of their time, effort, and even money, and they end up screwed over. You'll see this crap from bitter people a lot.
This girl was my friend, and I had to unravel the whole thing for her. In the end she STILL believed her "soulmate" was dead. I put in a good 20 hours or so collecting documents and stuff proving that it was all a lie, that her "boyfriend" never existed, that he never had played baseball at San Diego State, and all kinds of stuff. She was devastated and embarrassed and ultimately decided she couldn't be MY friend anymore because I was here ripping down her dead "fiance'" and I had no class. Of course a couple of years later she talked to me again, but literally... she was angry at me over it, because she couldn't be angry at anybody else, as she couldn't even track down who she was supposed to be mad at. They used those burner phones from Wal-mart, they used made up email addresses, they even had a mail box at a Mail Boxes Etc. to run their scam. They weren't looking for money or anything. They were just seeing if they could jerk somebody around for fun.
I think if anybody is a psycho here it's the Tuiasasopo kid, and Te'o is just his usual knucklehead/immature self that didn't figure it out until it was too late, because he saw a picture of a hot girl, and figured he'd get his NFL contract, they'd get married, and live happily ever after. I honestly believe that now, and it would be ideal for a Mormon kid to do so, because by having a long distance relationship, he avoids all of the pitfalls that would lead to a wedding that the family might not like as much (LDS lesson for the day... there is a difference between a "temple wedding" and a "civil ceremony"... Manti is pretty devout at this point, and I know his family would prefer he have a temple wedding. Anybody can get married in the temple, but to get a temple "recommend" you have to be able to answer a few basic questions and be prepared to go... you don't HAVE to get married in the temple, but parents really love it if you do and it is the preferred way. If you're already having kids together and stuff you can't get married in the temple, but you can go together and have a ceremony later and become "sealed" in the temple which has the same effect. That's what my wife and I and our children are doing and we are very excited about it, as we just had a civil ceremony one summer when we were in our mid-20's and realized that we were best friends and we made a good couple).
So anyway, I think the fact that this kid got duped is something that teammates may make fun of him about, but I am at a point where I won't question his motives unless some real damning stuff comes out. I think he got tricked quite honestly, and I also think he's a good football player and will continue to root for him in life and on the field. I saw what happened to my friend and how despondent she was and I wouldn't wish that on anybody. Thankfully for her she met a nice guy a couple of years ago and they are now married and have 2 cute kids and are happy. I don't speak to her much, but when I do, I don't mention that situation because it sets her off. Which I thought was funny for a while, but now realize how much it just destroyed her self-esteem.