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The man says the incident took place when he was a student at Liberty University, the far-right Christian school run by Falwell's husband until this month.
The tale of sexual hypocrisy in the Falwell family just keeps growing.
A former student at Liberty University has alleged that Becki Falwell, a prominent Trump supporter and the wife of now-ousted university president Jerry Falwell Jr., performed oral sex on him and pushed for a continued sexual relationship with him, Politico reports.
The act would violate Liberty's code of conduct, which prohibits sex outside of "biblically-ordained marriage between a natural-born man and a natural-born woman" -- a code that discriminates against LGBTQ+ people and many others.
Jerry Falwell Jr., son of the deeply anti-LGBTQ+ televangelist who founded the conservative Christian school in 1971, became president of Liberty upon his father's death in 2007. He resigned this week in the wake of reports that he and his wife had an arrangement with a young man, Giancarlo Granda, that involved Granda having sex with Becki Falwell while her husband watched. The Falwells have said Becki indeed had an extramarital affair but denied that it involved voyeurism on Jerry Falwell's part.
Now Politico contributor Brandon Ambrosino has published a story on the allegations by the former student. Ambrosino said he has been investigating the story for a year and has interviewed the man several times.
The man, who was granted anonymity by Politico, said the encounter took place when he was a 22-year-old Liberty student in 2008, near the beginning of the fall term. He was in a rock band with Trey Falwell, one of the Falwells' sons, and the band would often practice at the Falwell farm in Virginia.
He and some other band members said Becki Falwell frequently hung out with them during practice. Then, one night when he was staying over at the Falwell farm, she climbed into bed with him and performed the sex act, he said.
"He said she initiated the act, and he went along with it," Politico reports. "But despite his rejection of further advances, he said, Falwell continued pursuing him, offering him gifts and engaging in banter through Facebook messages."
Politico obtained screen shots of the messages, which show Becki Falwell saying he's "beautiful" and has "killer eyes." "She was the aggressor," he told the publication.
She also left him flirtatious voice mails, bought him concert tickets that she handed to him in a public place, and even befriended his mother, who worshipped the Falwell family, the man said. The contact with his mother made him particularly uncomfortable, he said.
"In December 2008, months after he began trying to distance himself from her, she started to get the point," Politico reports. In one of her last Facebook messages to him, she wrote, "I am so thrilled that you have found a girlfriend!!!! I knew it wouldn't be long before someone noticed all of the great qualities that you have. I just want you to be happy and it hurts to realize that remaining friends with me must not make you that way. Please just be kind enough to let me know whether or not you have received my texts. I am sorry that 6 months of friendship has ended this way. Maybe time will heal whatever wounds that I have caused and your Christian heart will allow you to forgive me."
He left the university for a time and cut off contact with her until 2011, when he asked her advice about getting a job to help him finish his degree. He graduated from Liberty in 2012 and has not had any contact with Becki Falwell since then, he said.
He suffered guilt and shame over the situation, he told Politico, but he said he still respects Jerry Falwell Sr. "and what he did for the school, for the kids, and I believe the Lord had a mission on his life to do that." He decided to come forward with his story now because he believes Becki Falwell was abusing her power, he added.
Jerry and Becki Falwell said the man's story is not true. They released a statement saying, "It is unfortunate that the coverage of our departure has turned into a frenzy of false and fantastic claims about us. These false and mean spirited lies have hurt us and our family greatly and we will respond fully with the truth at an appropriate time. At this time, however, we think it is best to move on and help the Liberty community focus on its very bright future."
Liberty Senior Vice President Scott Lamb also provided a statement to Politico, noting that the university has "policies against employees having sexual relationships with students, as well as having other inappropriate relationships outside of marriage, whether consensual or not. Becki Falwell was an employee in 2008 and such policies would have fully applied to her as spouse of the then-university Chancellor and President. Liberty University has checked its Human Resources and Title IX records and finds no complaints were ever lodged against Becki Falwell for any inappropriate relationship nor were any investigations of such matters conducted. This is a fresh allegation, as far as we can tell."
