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demmiblue

(36,858 posts)
Mon Aug 24, 2020, 12:37 PM Aug 2020

Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years

Giancarlo Granda says his sexual relationship with the Falwells began when he was 20. He says he had sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell Jr, head of Liberty University and a staunch supporter of President Trump, looked on.

By ARAM ROSTON

Filed Aug. 24, 2020, 4 p.m. GMT

WASHINGTON – In a claim likely to intensify the controversy surrounding one of the most influential figures in the American Christian conservative movement, a business partner of Jerry Falwell Jr has come forward to say he had a years-long sexual relationship involving Falwell’s wife and the evangelical leader.

Giancarlo Granda says he was 20 when he met Jerry and Becki Falwell while working as a pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach hotel in March 2012. Starting that month and continuing into 2018, Granda told Reuters that the relationship involved him having sex with Becki Falwell while Jerry Falwell looked on.

Granda showed Reuters emails, text messages and other evidence that he says demonstrate the sexual nature of his relationship with the couple, who have been married since 1987. “Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda said in an interview. Now 29, he described the liaisons as frequent – “multiple times per year” – and said the encounters took place at hotels in Miami and New York, and at the Falwells’ home in Virginia.

His friendship with the Falwells eventually soured, Granda told Reuters, in part because he wanted to dissolve his ties with the couple and fell into a business dispute with them.

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-falwell-relationship/
9 replies = new reply since forum marked as read
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Business partner of Falwells says affair with evangelical power couple spanned seven years (Original Post) demmiblue Aug 2020 OP
The Rep. Values team scores. LakeArenal Aug 2020 #1
K&R 2naSalit Aug 2020 #2
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA! fleur-de-lisa Aug 2020 #3
Well I'm not really surprised vlyons Aug 2020 #4
Shocker Solly Mack Aug 2020 #5
Next up: the personal trainer Tanuki Aug 2020 #6
Post removed Post removed Aug 2020 #7
Consenting adults, good. Hypocrisy, bad. lostnfound Aug 2020 #8
So, are the Falwells hiring? Asking for a friend. Midnight Writer Aug 2020 #9

vlyons

(10,252 posts)
4. Well I'm not really surprised
Mon Aug 24, 2020, 12:50 PM
Aug 2020

With religious cults, there always seems to be some nookie going on in back pew. The established Christian Church has a long long history of grifting, illicit sex, and complete hypacracy. Plus these assholes get to set themselves up as holier-than-thou, while they beat you down with a bible.

Tanuki

(14,918 posts)
6. Next up: the personal trainer
Mon Aug 24, 2020, 01:05 PM
Aug 2020
https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-falwell-trainer-exclusive/exclusive-falwell-steered-liberty-university-land-deal-benefiting-his-personal-trainer-idUSKCN1VH283

"Evangelical leader and prominent Donald Trump backer Jerry Falwell Jr personally approved real estate transactions by his nonprofit Christian university that helped his personal fitness trainer obtain valuable university property, according to real estate records, internal university emails and interviews.

Around 2011, Falwell, president of Liberty University in Virginia, and his wife, Rebecca, began personal fitness training sessions with Benjamin Crosswhite, then a 23-year-old recent Liberty graduate. Now, after a series of university real estate transactions signed by Falwell, Crosswhite owns a sprawling 18-acre racquet sports and fitness facility on former Liberty property. Last year, a local bank approved a line of credit allowing Crosswhite’s business to borrow as much as $2 million against the property.
.....
A Florida lawsuit brought public scrutiny to a relationship between the Falwells and Giancarlo Granda, a young man they befriended while he was working as a pool attendant at a luxury Miami Beach hotel and later backed in a business venture involving a youth hostel. Falwell filed an affidavit in 2018 saying he used his own wealth to lend $1.8 million to the $4.65 million project with Granda.
......

One difference: When Falwell helped Crosswhite, he used the assets of Liberty, the tax-exempt university he has led since 2008. Among the largest Christian universities in the world, Liberty depends on hundreds of millions of dollars its students receive in federally backed student loans and Pell grants.".....(more)




Response to demmiblue (Original post)

lostnfound

(16,179 posts)
8. Consenting adults, good. Hypocrisy, bad.
Mon Aug 24, 2020, 01:40 PM
Aug 2020

Scamming the followers of his “church” to support a lavish lifestyle, that’s what is most immoral.

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