In July 2024, Liberty University and Jerry Falwell Jr. reached a settlement after years of litigation following Falwell’s forced resignation for alleged misconduct.
At the time, both parties were tight-lipped about the details of the settlement. It has now been revealed that Liberty agreed to pay Falwell roughly $15 million.
The son of the school’s founder and conservative activist Jerry Falwell Sr., Falwell has been credited with bringing Liberty University back from the brink of financial collapse while serving as its president from 2007-2020.
However, Falwell’s tenure at the school ended amid scandal in 2020 after Falwell posted an image to social media of himself alongside a woman with their pants unbuttoned and unzipped. The image was meant to be taken in jest, but many found it troubling.
After being placed on indefinite leave, Falwell and his wife, Becki, made a public statement that Becki had engaged in an extramarital affair and that their family was now being blackmailed.
The next day, Reuters published a now-infamous article detailing the account of Giancarlo Granda, a former Miami Beach pool attendant who claimed that the Falwells had engaged in a lurid relationship with him, in which Falwell watched him and Becki have sex for Falwell’s own pleasure. Granda also claimed that Falwell had used his money and influence to control him and keep him quiet.
The Falwells vehemently deny the details of Granda’s account, though they admit that Becki did have an affair with Granda.
In the years that followed Falwell’s resignation, he and Liberty have volleyed various lawsuits, with Falwell alleging the Liberty had not fulfilled its obligation to compensate him and that the school was misusing the image and likeness of his late father, while Liberty alleged that Falwell had breached his contract and was therefore not owed compensation.
In 2024, when the two parties settled, Liberty said in a statement, “This agreement is grounded in a firm commitment to protecting and preserving Liberty’s original mission of developing Christ-centered men and women with the values, knowledge, and skills essential to impact the world.”
“It is based on a mutual understanding regarding the amount Liberty University will pay its former president in authorized retirement and severance under the various disputed agreements and in keeping with the law,” the statement continued, “and the conditions under which the University will make use of Dr. Jerry Falwell, Sr.’s name, image, and likeness.”
.jpg){kind=link}
