Former business associate says he had years-long affair involving Jerry Falwell Jr. and his wife

A former business associate of Jerry Falwell Jr. on Monday told Reuters the evangelical leader was a willing participant in an affair he had with Falwell’s wife Becki Falwell, a day after Jerry Falwell told the Washington Examiner that his family was being blackmailed.

Giancarlo Granda told the news service that he met the couple in 2012 while working as a hotel pool attendant at the Fontainebleau Miami Beach and that the affair lasted from that time into 2018.

“Becki and I developed an intimate relationship and Jerry enjoyed watching from the corner of the room,” Granda told Reuters. He said the relationship eventually ended due to a business dispute with the Falwells.

Granda shared what he claimed was evidence of the arrangement with Reuters. The materials included audio of Becki Falwell objecting to Granda describing his other relationships, saying “He’s like telling me every time he hooks up with people. Like I don’t have feelings or something.”

“You’re going to make her jealous,” Jerry Falwell adds.

In a June 2020 text message, Granda tells Jerry Falwell “since you’re okay with ruining my life, I am going to take the kamikaze route.”

An attorney for Jerry Falwell, Michael Bowe, told Reuters last week his client “categorically denies everything you indicated you intend to publish about him.”

However, in a statement to the Washington Examiner on Sunday, Jerry Falwell said his wife had a brief affair with Granda and that he then attempted to blackmail the couple. He said he “was not involved” in the affair.

The Hill has reached out to a representative for the Falwells for comment.

Granda denied any blackmail, saying he had simply attempted to secure a buyout from his business partnership with the Falwells.

Both Jerry Falwell’s statement and Granda’s allegations come weeks after the evangelical leader announced an indefinite leave of absence as president of Liberty University. Jerry Falwell had posted and deleted an Instagram photo of himself with his pants unzipped and his arm around his wife’s assistant days before the board of trustees announced his leave. He has run the Christian university since his father’s death in 2007.

The board of trustees said Friday it has yet to make a final decision about whether to fire Jerry Falwell.