‘BIBLICAL STANDARDS OF MORALITY’

Liberty University Sues Former President Jerry Falwell Jr. for $10M After Sex Scandal

The lawsuit accuses him of “a deceitful scheme” in which he negotiated a new employment contract that would give him a better severance package if he were fired.

Liberty University, one of the country’s biggest Christian colleges, is suing its former president, Jerry Falwell Jr., for $10 million, Religion News Service reports. The lawsuit comes after Falwell resigned last fall amid multiple scandals, including allegations that the ex-university leader and his wife were in a long-term sexual relationship with a former pool boy. Falwell has since denied his role in the relationship, but admits that his wife was sexually involved with the man. The lawsuit says that Falwell violated the school’s “moral code,” which expects staff to only have sex within a heterosexual marriage. The lawsuit also claims that he “fashioned a deceitful scheme” and negotiated a new employment contract that would give him a raise and a better severance package if he were fired. According to the lawsuit, this was just a “safety net” for Falwell, who most likely knew his termination was nearing. He should not have accepted his severance benefits, the school says.

The lawsuit also alleges that he required the school to give him computers, phones, and laptops—which he refused to return multiple times. The lawsuit asks that Falwell pay $10 million in damages and for him to return any Liberty University electronics that he still has in his possession. Since his resignation last fall, Falwell has mostly gone off the grid, but posted that the reason he has “been so ‘absent’ from LU” is because he suffered from a health condition that affected his lungs.