Was Tom Schwartz trying to drop a hint about his part in the drama with Tom Sandoval and Raquel Leviss weeks before the affair news broke?!

Prior to Scandoval consuming all of our social media feeds, you may recall that the 28-year-old was under fire for another scandal within the Vanderpump Rules world – she hooked up with Schwartz during Scheana Shay and Brock Davies’ wedding in August. Now, here is the deal… Ever since Ariana Madix broke up with Sandoval last week due to his months-long affair with Raquel, Bravo fans have speculated that the 40-year-old was covering for them. Why is that? Based on what we know about the timeline, the duo’s relationship began seven months ago – which would be around the time when Schwartz and Raquel made out in Mexico.

Related: Is VPR Being Re-Edited To Make Raquel Leviss Look Worse??? Lala Kent Says…

Naturally, everyone began to think that Katie Maloney’s ex-husband was helping Sandoval keep his affair a secret and took to social media to call him out for it. However, the 39-year-old insisted Schwartz “specifically only found out about this very recently, and most definitely did not condone my actions.”

But since then, several cast members have come forward to cast some doubt and shared that they wouldn’t be surprised if Schwartz actually covered for Sandoval, given how close they are. As we’ve said before, Schwartz declared on the show that he would be the type of guy to lie and cover up for former co-star Jax Taylor when he cheated on Brittany Cartwright with Faith Stowers during season 6 of VPR. So with that in mind, it’s not hard to believe he would go as far as to try and divert the attention from Sandoval and Raquel.

And now, an interview from February 7 has resurfaced that has fans’ eyebrows raising and questioning everything! He told ET Canada during the VPR season 10 premiere party last month that Sandoval forced him to pursue Raquel last year! He said at the time:

“Oh, my God. [Sandoval] made me do it. I didn’t want to do it. He’s like, ‘If you don’t do it, you’re a wussy.’ … He steamrolled me.”

Whoa!

So is there a chance Sandoval concocted a plan to use and manipulate his best friend to cover his tracks — and the dude didn’t know about it until later on? Or did Schwartz know about it all along and helped them out — despite not wanting to kiss Raquel? Who knows! But this makes us even more suspicious about Sandoval right now.

And innerestingly enough, Kristen Doute claimed that the TomTom co-owner “found out about a month ago” that Sandoval was involved with the SUR waitress and told him to come clean before he “humiliated the hell” out of Ariana. To not say anything to her about the cover band frontman’s infidelity is pretty bad. But since Schwartz might have known about the affair when the ET Canada interview happened a month ago, did he decide to throw his pal under the bus? Or attempt to save himself from the future backlash and toss this statement out there?

Adding onto suspicions…

According to ET Canada, Sandoval quickly chimed into the conversation at the time and told Schwartz to stop blaming him since it was “fun” for them:

“I was stoked [about their on-camera kiss]. I thought it was fun. They went behind this little greenery wall and I went and cracked two beers and handed it to them.”

Hmm…

At this time, Schwartz has not addressed the cheating scandal – something Kristen called him out for on the Scheananigans podcast on Friday. She said:

“Tom Schwartz is a f**king p***y, and he needs to man up. Enough is enough. He’s just burying his head in the sand and thinks that things will just go away and things will happen. It’s like he can be honest with us in real-time and texting, ‘I don’t stand for this’ or ‘I really feel this way,’ but he doesn’t do anything about it.”

At this point, the guy should just come forward and share his side of the story to clear up if he knew or not! Because we have so many questions about his potential involvement in this scandal at this point!

What do YOU think, Perezcious readers? Do you believe Schwartz knew about the affair for more than a month? Or do you think he was as blindsided by this as the rest of us? Let us know in the comments below.

[Image via Bravo/YouTube, Raquel Leviss/Instagram]