Liberty University has agreed to pay its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., $15 million as part of a settlement agreement following his resignation and a sex scandal.
Although the two parties announced a settlement last year, the details of the agreement between the prominent Evangelical Christian institution and Falwell had remained undisclosed.
On Tuesday, USA Today reported that a tax form shows that the Lynchburg, Virginia-based university is set to pay Falwell around $5.5 million to settle litigation and about $9.7 million for his retirement package.
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For his part, Falwell agreed to pay Liberty the sum of $440,000 to settle “disputed expenses” between him and the academic institution.
Falwell told USA Today that he was “very pleased with the outcome of the settlement negotiations and with the final settlement.”
The son of Liberty University founder and notable conservative Christian activist, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, the younger Falwell became chancellor and president of the school after his father died in 2007.
In 2016, he garnered national attention during the presidential election cycle when he became one of the first notable Evangelical leaders to endorse Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
In August 2020, the Liberty Board of Trustees announced that they had accepted Falwell’s immediate resignation from his positions as president, chancellor and board of directors.
The resignation came after allegations surfaced that Falwell’s wife had been involved in an affair with a 29-year-old man named Giancarlo Granda, which had commenced several years earlier.
Granda later attempted to blackmail the couple, claiming in comments given to Reuters that Falwell was aware of the affair and even “enjoyed watching from the corner of the room.”
While Falwell eventually acknowledged in a statement that his wife “had an inappropriate personal relationship with” Granda, he denied any involvement in the illicit affair.
Later, in 2020, Falwell sued Liberty University leadership, claiming that they accepted inaccurate claims against his moral character without good research and forced him to resign.
Since 2020, Falwell and the university have filed various lawsuits against each other.
In July of last year, Falwell and Liberty announced that they had reached a settlement, noting that this would resolve “all outstanding disputes on both legal and personal matters.”
“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,” they said in a joint statement.
“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; and the conditions under which the University will make use of Dr. Jerry Falwell Sr.’s name, image, and likeness.”
