You may recall my earlier post about the strange relationship between Jerry Falwell, Jr,, his wife, and two young men who seem to have benefited from his largesse. Donald Trump’s erstwhile fixer Michael Cohen was also involved as were some supposedly compromising photographs. Falwell is an evangelical and stalwart supporter of Donald Trump and is the current president of Liberty University that was founded by his famous preacher father. So, like Trump, he obtained his position due to his father.
There was a court case against Falwell by a third young man who argued that he did not receive his share of the financial rewards given to one of the other two men. The case has been settled but the lawyers for both sides are not revealing any details, which should not come as a surprise. But this news report provides some hints as to the many weird elements of this story.
Jerry Falwell Jr. has settled the Miami court case that laid out many of the details behind the South Beach real estate venture his family launched in 2013 with a former Fontainebleau pool attendant the evangelical leader and his wife met while on vacation.
In a federal court filing, Falwell and the young lawyer who sued him, Gordon Bello, said they have settled the case for an undisclosed “monetary sum” that Falwell, the president of Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, will pay Bello, a legislative aide for the Miami-Dade County Commission.
…Bello said in court papers that he first met Rebecca Falwell through Granda, and formed a “personal relationship” with her before he met Jerry Falwell in the lobby of the Loews Miami Beach for the alleged pitch meeting in 2012.
…There were unexplained developments in the Bello litigation, too. He was previously known as Jesus Fernandez Jr., and his father as Jesus Fernandez Sr. Both changed their names to Bello in the summer of 2016, saying they did so under pressure.
The younger Bello said in court papers the change was “due to a matter directly related to the subject matter of this lawsuit.” The elder Bello told the Miami Herald the change was due to “major concerns” and those concerns were “based on threats.”
What is going on here? Personal relationship? Changing names under pressure? Threats?
There are so many tantalizing threads to this story and one wonders if some reporter will be able to weave them together so that we get the full story. One can be pretty much assured that it will not reflect well on Falwell.
Crash and burn, please.
@1 Hack The Planet!
Sorry if I was unclear. I want Falwell to crash and burn.
I must travel in the wrong circles. Exactly what would I have to have been involved in to feel the need to change my name? You can’t magically escape culpability for a crime, so what could be going on here?
Fernandez sounds latino. Bello sounds Italian. A relationship of whatever sort with a Bello won’t raise as many conservative eyebrows as the same relationship with a Fernandez.
This sort of things has happened so often that it has worn a path, in the rug, in the floorboards, in the bedrock …
Any more when I hear some Christian scold condemning others and, by implication, holding themselves up as a superior model for morality and humanity I reflexively wonder about how long it will take for their own transgressions be exposed. And I generally know ahead of time what sort of transgressions they will be. If they condemn homosexuality it will be their own gay affairs that will surface. If it is sexual infidelity the will center exactly on that.
I used to be shocked. Then amused. This sort of thing has been so very predictable it no longer seems anything but normal. The fire-n-brimstone thunderer is found to be blowing meth addled rent boys; He likes seeing his wife get plowed; He is found dead wearing three layers of rubber, with two dildos up his ass, and a strap around his neck. Ho-hum. Another day in fun-house-mirror-Narnia.