The pet charity of alleged Manti Te’o hoax mastermind Ronaiah Tuiasosopo is about as legit as the grid star’s “dead girlfriend.”
The California-based AIGA Foundation — which Tuiasosopo has claimed was helping raise money for cancer patients in the wake of the leukemia “death” of bogus Te’o gal pal Lennay Kekua — had its tax-exempt status yanked by the IRS and is noncompliant in California, The Post has learned.
Tuiasosopo told Te’o’s family at a Nov. 24 football game that he was working with AIGA to raise money in memory of Lennay.
AIGA — which counts Ronaiah’s preacher father, Titus, as a founder — claims to be a 501(c)3 dedicated to helping Polynesian student athletes, according to its Web site.
But IRS records show that AIGA, formed in 2007, failed to file tax returns for more than three years and had its status revoked in 2011. A spokesman for the attorney general in California, where AIGA is incorporated as a domestic nonprofit business, said the group is “out of compliance” with the state.
After it was slammed by the IRS, A.I.G.A. filed a tax return claiming to be a charitable trust, and not a 501(c) 3.
AIGA president George Malauulu declined to comment.