Exclusive: Falwell steered Liberty University land deal benefiting his personal trainer

[brooklynite]

Source: Reuters

LYNCHBURG, Va. (Reuters) - 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.

Falwell, one of the most influential right-wing Christian leaders in the United States, has been buffeted by disclosures about his private dealings over the last year and a half.

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.

Read more: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-falwell-trainer-exclusive/exclusive-falwell-steered-liberty-university-land-deal-benefiting-his-personal-trainer-idUSKCN1VH283?utm_medium=Social&utm_source=twitter

[mahatmakanejeeves]

1. My goodness. He certainly has a way with personal fitness trainers and pool boys. NT

[get the red out]

2. Very interesting!

[brooklynite]

3. You need to properly stretch before jumping in the pool...

Wouldn't want a cramp or anything.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

5. I would like to add, from the Reuters article:

The support Falwell provided to the two young men, Granda and Crosswhite, has some parallels. Both were aided in business ventures and both have flown on the nonprofit university’s corporate jet.

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.

In 2016, Falwell signed a real estate deal transferring the sports facility, complete with tennis courts and a fitness center owned by Liberty, to Crosswhite. Under the terms, Crosswhite wasn’t required to put any of his own money down toward the purchase price, a confidential sales contract obtained by Reuters shows.

Liberty committed nearly $650,000 up front to lease back tennis courts from Crosswhite at the site for nine years. The school also offered Crosswhite financing, at a low 3% interest rate, to cover the rest of the $1.2 million transaction, the contract shows.

Crosswhite declined to answer questions about the deal. “All I will say is that my wife and I consult each other before every major business deal and we bought the complex from Liberty together,” he said in an email. “My wife and I both work around the clock to make our business succeed.”

[mahatmakanejeeves]

4. Joe.My.God is on it:

POOL BOY DEUX: Falwell Steered Liberty U Real Estate Deal To Benefit His 23 Year Old Male Personal Trainer - https://www.joemygod.com/2019/08/pool-boy-deux-falwell-steered-liberty-u-real-estate-deal-to-benefit-his-23-year-old-male-personal-trainer/ …

Link to tweet

[riversedge]

13. So, Jerry likes young men. uyup

[NoodleyAppendage]

15. Correction: Jerry's wife likes young men. He's just a cuckolded pimp. n/t

n/t

[kimbutgar]

6. Wouldn't it be something if this hypocrite gets taken down!

[turbinetree]

7. So basically this "guy" and his team have been skimming Pell Grants and such.....................

November 3, 2020 cannot get here fast enough........................

[maxsolomon]

9. Think that will change LU's tax-exempt status?

I don't. I don't think anyone will pay for this fraud.

[turbinetree]

17. LOCK HIM UP..........................

[stuffmatters]

12. Not to mention the millions/perhaps billions in G.I. benefits they've cheated out of the system.

[turbinetree]

18. LOCK THEM ALL UP........................

[TeamPooka]

8. Personal trainers and pool boys. Falwell has a "type."

[Initech]

10. Grifters for Jesus!

[mahatmakanejeeves]

11. It just occurred to me that he's a third of the way to a millennial Village People.

It just occurred to me that he's a third of the way to a millennial Village People.

Link to tweet

Hell, with a pool boy and a fitness instructor, he's a third of the way to an actual YMCA.

Link to tweet

[Corgigal]

14. Want pics.

I've seen the pool boy, now I want to see the trainer. Want to see if the happily married man has a type.

[BlueIdaho]

16. Christianity has always been a long con

By now I’m sure the faithful are used to being fleeced so their spiritual leaders have more golden toilets to shit on.

[DeminPennswoods]

19. Something strange is going on here

first the pool boy, not the personal trainer. Is it blackmail, hush money or something different?