Bill Berkowitz for BuzzFlash: Jerry Falwell Jr. Sued by Liberty University for Financial Impropriety in Salacious Lawsuit
April 27, 2021
Jerry Falwell Jr. speaking before his lavish and lascivious lifestyle was exposed (Gage Skidmore)
By Bill Berkowitz
In January 2016, Jerry Falwell Jr. fell head over heels for Donald Trump, becoming one of the first major Christian evangelical leaders to endorse his run for the presidency. Trump had recently performed religious-minded shtick at Falwell’s Liberty University, and the evangelical world was abuzz. Shortly after the Trump appearance, Falwell, issued a statement endorsing Trump: “I am proud to offer my endorsement of Donald J. Trump for President of the United States. He is a successful executive and entrepreneur, a wonderful father and a man who I believe can lead our country to greatness again.”
In a statement, Trump said: “It is truly an honor to receive Jerry’s endorsement. Not only is he a high quality person, with a wonderful family, whom I have great respect for – I also consider him a very good friend and his support means so much to me.”
If ever there were two yucky peas in a pod, this was it!
One conservative leader suggested that Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr., the founder of Liberty, would be rolling over in his grave.
Though some evangelical leaders initially balked, a host of top shelf leaders eventually hopped aboard the Trump train.
Just about every religion has pastors, and other faith leaders, that have fallen from grace, hatching get-rich quick schemes, fleecing their followers, cruising for gay sex on the down low, drinking to abandon (usually in the secrecy of their own mansions), and getting involved in myriad od sex scandals.
Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife, Becki, have righteously earned their spots in the Religious Right Hall of Shame, alongside such notable evangelicals as Billy James Hargis, Jimmy Swaggart, Jim Bakker, Ted Haggard, Bill Gothard, and Tony Alamo. However, Jerry and Becki, clicked it up several notches by carrying on a three-way; audacious sexual romps, nepotism, and serious financial improprieties.
If you thought that after Team Falwell was driven from the friendly confines of Liberty University in August 2020, you wouldn’t be hearing more about them, think again. And it’s not because they are staging the tried and true evangelical redemption tour. Rather it’s because Liberty University, is suing young Jerry for $10 million, an award that could be tripled under Virginia law to no less than $30 million. Not coincidentally, Falwell’s son Trey has been removed from his position as a vice president at Liberty.
During their tenure, the Falwells turned ultra-financially-successful Liberty University, into their personal cash cow. According to Insidehighered.com, “Trey Falwell’s compensation totaled $234,310 in the fiscal year ending in June 2019, according to Liberty’s most recently available federal tax filing. Trey Falwell’s wife, Sarah, was listed as receiving $72,211 in compensation. Trey’s brother Wesley was listed as receiving $78,489 in compensation, and Wesley’s wife, Laura, was listed as receiving $59,193 in compensation. Falwell family members were also involved in operating companies that contract with Liberty.”
In the suit, filed in Lynchburg Circuit Court in Virginia, Liberty University accuses Falwell Jr. of a “business conspiracy.” In response, Falwell issued a statement to an LA Times reporter saying that the lawsuit was an “attempt to defame me and discredit my record.”
Responding to the lawsuit via Twitter, Falwell alleged that "the Exec. Comm of the LU board has made another attempt to defame me and discredit my record following a series of harsh and unnecessary actions against my children, Becki and me."
As if Liberty needed any help in discrediting Falwell’s record!
According to Talking Points Memo’s Josh Kovensky, “Liberty accuses Falwell in the lawsuit of breach of contract, breach of fiduciary duty, and of engaging in a ‘conspiracy of silence’ over alleged extortion attempts from Granda while negotiating a higher payment package from the evangelical institution.”
The lawsuit characterizes the relationship of Becky Falwell to Giancarlo Granda -- a former Miami pool attendant, who entered into a relationship with the Falwells -- as “intimate” and “salacious.” “At one point, Liberty says that Granda held leverage over the Falwells because he ‘would be able to provide detail about the fact of the affair with Becki, its duration, Falwell Jr.’s role in abetting it, the attendant circumstances of the affair, and the specific activities in which Granda, Falwell Jr., and Becki engaged during and after the affair.’”
The lawsuit claims that Liberty has a “way of life centered on rigorous educational instruction delivered by faculty and administrators who were intentionally committed to a written statement of faith and to Biblical standards of morality.”
It claims that both Falwell and Granda understood that “matters of infidelity, immodesty, and acceptance of a loose lifestyle would stand in stark contrast to the conduct expected of leaders at Liberty.” In addition, it states: “fearing spiritual erosion from the top, it was [the senior] Dr. Falwell’s vision that Liberty would always be subject to the authority of the local church in matters of doctrine and spiritual discipline.”
In 2016, Trump garnered slightly over 80% of the evangelical vote. In November, that number dioped slightly to about 75%. Evangelicals have remained a core constituency for Trump and Trumpism even in the wake of his electoral defeat, Trump’s Big Lie, and the January 6 right-wing riot at the Capitol. Scandals, corruption and glaring incompetence in the face of the Covid-19 pandemic be damned.
Despite never-ending scandals that read like the front pages of tabloids at supermarket checkouts, conservative evangelicals have managed to hold on to the vast majority of their followers. Why? At least some of the credit goes to leaders like Ralph Reed of the Faith and Freedom Coalition and Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council who are experts at ginning up culture wars. Whether claiming attacks on religious freedom, trumpeting the dangers of the gay and lesbian political “agenda,” or the current vitriolic attack on transgender youth, the religious right will continue their fundraising and hypocritical shrieking about the end of morality. For now, Jerry Falwell Jr. will be watching from the sidelines.
Bill Berkowitz is an Oakland, California-based freelance writer covering right-wing movements. His work has appeared in BuzzFlash, The Nation, Huffington Post, The Progressive, AlterNet, Street Sheet, In These Times, and many other print and online publications, as well as being cited in several books.
Follow BuzzFlash on @twitter
Continue the conversation at the BuzzFlash Nation group on Facebook