Liberty University sues Jerry Falwell, Jr. for 'at least $30 million in damages' over sex scandal: report

Before a sex scandal forced his resignation in 2020, former Liberty University President Jerry Falwell, Jr. was among the most prominent White Christian fundamentalist evangelicals of the Trump era. These days, there is bad blood between the 58-year-old Falwell and many of his former colleagues, and Reuters is reporting that Falwell is now facing a major lawsuit from Liberty.

According to reporters Aram Roston and Jonathan Stempel, "The complaint filed on Thursday in a state court in Lynchburg, Virginia seeks at least $30 million in damages. It said Falwell, 58, breached his duties by refusing to disclose his and his wife Becki's relationship with (a pool) attendant, and negotiating a higher salary and severance package when he knew the affair could damage the school."

In 2020, Reuters reported that the pool attendant alleged that Falwell's wife, Becki Falwell, had an extramarital affair with him and that the then-Liberty University president enjoyed being in the same room with them when they were having sex. Sometimes, the young man alleged, Falwell, Jr. would remotely watch his wife and the pool attendant having sex via camera.

Falwell, Jr. is the son of the late Moral Majority founder Jerry Falwell, Jr., who died in 2007 at the age of 73. The Moral Majority was among the most influential far-right evangelical groups of the Reagan years, and the late Republican Sen. Barry Goldwater of Arizona was highly critical of the influence that political White evangelicals like Falwell, Jr. and Pat Robertson gained in his party during the 1980s.