Giancarlo Granda was on Good Morning America this past week and discussed his personal and business relationship he had with Jerry and Becki Falwell.
George Stephanopoulos
scandal that has rocked Liberty University and its angelical leader Jerry Falwell, Jr. A former pool attendant john Carla Granda calls follow a predator saying he engaged in sexual liaisons with follows wife or follow watched. We’ll talk with Rhonda and an exclusive interview first Deborah Roberts brings his latest on the scandal and a second allegation that emerged overnight from a former student at Liberty. Good morning, Deb.
Deborah Roberts
Good morning, George. Yeah, this is a scandal This seems to grow deeper and wider by the day for a man who was once at the top of his game in Christian conservative circles. Now Jerry Falwell Jr. is not only out at the world’s top Christian university, but he may have also lost his reputation as well. This morning that new allegation about the fall wells coming from a former Liberty University student providing an anonymous account in Politico alleging he had a sexual encounter with Becky falwell, the wife of the school’s former president Jerry Falwell, Jr. While he was a 22 year old the Falwell’s called the owl allegation false and mean spirited. It is the latest in a shocking string of scandals to hit one of the most influential families in the evangelical conservative movement.
Jerry Fallwell Jr.
As our friendship has grown so has my admiration for Mr. Trump,
Deborah Roberts
a staunch advocate in Republican politics and for President Trump, falwell resigned from the college following a series of stunning developments. First, a racy photo he posted then took down from social media with his arm around his wife’s assistant. He apologized for posting it saying it was just in good fun from a costume party, then that first jaw dropping allegation of sexual impropriety that directly goes against the school’s strict moral code. We are so proud of our students here at Liberty, and it’s just such an honor to be able to serve alongside them, and we try to teach good family values and good morals bowell accused by his 29 year old former business partner, john Carlo Granda of being aware of and he Observing grounders affair with Falwell’s wife Becky. They’ll fall well denies any involvement. Glenda says he met the fall wells when he was a 20 year old pool attendant in 2012. And the relationship took off from there lasting years. He provided this audio recording as proof.
Giancarlo Granda
Not trying to do that.
Deborah Roberts
Wanda says he vacation with the fall wells even went into business with them owning a Miami youth hostel. In this email shared exclusively with ABC News. grunder says falwell offered a glowing recommendation for him to apply to Georgetown University in 2018. calling him a quick study on all business related matters consistent, dependable, and someone who has operated with the highest business ethics and integrity. But the relationship later soured. Now the phone wells are accusing Granda of extortion claiming he threatened to go public with the affair unless he was paid millions, but grunder denies that allegation. Overnight, the phone wells declining to comment on groundless allegations. Falwell has reached out to numerous news organizations over the last week including abc news and so is his wife Becky both vigorously denying most of Grandis claim they both say that they’re victims of a man who tried to take advantage of them No word yet from the couple on this newest allegation
George Stephanopoulos
George a dead thanks very much the spring and junk Karla grinder right now. Thank you for joining us this morning. Let’s begin with their denial. They say that you had an affair with Mrs. Fall with but but that Jerry Falwell Jr. was not involved in any way but you say from the start, they were both involved.
Giancarlo Granda
First off, thank you for having me on. And Jerry’s line. That was his game plan from the beginning to just throw her under the bus, which I think speaks a lot about who he is about his character. And he was aware from day one of our relationships. And he he did in fact, watch.
George Stephanopoulos
So how would that work? Well describe the encounters.
Giancarlo Granda
So let’s go back to when I first met him. I was 20 years old, working at the Fontainebleau hotel, working my way through college. And, you know, I’m talking to some guests, and I noticed this woman behind me staring at me, and she was noticeably drunk. And she was just flirting with me, you know, and then we start flirting back and forth. And then towards the end of my workshift, she’s like, Hey, would you want to go back to my hotel room? And as a single 20 year old, I’m like, Yeah, of course. And, and then she’s like, both. My husband wants to watch and immediately I thought it was a bit strange. And I backed off. He said, Oh, no, but he, he’s not going to do anything. He’s just gonna sit in the corner. And he just he just wants to watch and it’s his thing. And she mentioned that they were actually at the at a swingers club the night before Miami velvet. But it wasn’t their thing. They said it was kind of gross because there’s too many people and they wanted a more intimate session. So I had no idea who they were at the time. You know, after my work shift, they called me through block number two schedule where to meet and we met at another hotel, and I walked into the lobby, and you know, Becky’s sitting there waiting for me. And we were both nervous at the time. And then she offered me whiskey to relax to calm my nerves. We talked for a bit, I relaxed, and then we went upstairs. And Jerry was laying on the bed. He was laying on the bed, he was drunk, and he was giggling. And again, I’m kind of weirded out at this moment. And I said, Hey, if at any point you get jealous, or you want me to back off, just let me know and I’ll walk out of here. He’s like, No, no, just just go for it.
George Stephanopoulos
And then on other occasions as well, and what would he be doing?
Giancarlo Granda
Right I mean, he I don’t want to go too much into the details. I don’t want to go too much into into the details but he he enjoyed watching.
George Stephanopoulos
They say now that you’re trying to extort them, Why come forward now this started seven years ago.
Giancarlo Granda
So, again, going back to that time, I, you know, after after that Fontainebleau or the hotel, you know, that first night, shortly after we had a weekend getaway, Chico resort in the Florida Keys. And in this trip, you know, we were doing our, you know, the nature of the relationship continue there. And, you know, I mentioned to them that when I was younger, right when I was in high school, I suffered with video game addiction. You know, at the time, I was timid, been nervous. And I believe, you know, now in hindsight that they spotted these weaknesses, and made me an ideal target. I shared You know, this passion project of mine, where it’s it’s a company that would connect to video gamers suffering with video game addiction and families with health coaches. Z Oh, I think that’s an excellent idea. And, you know, actually, you could probably partner up with liberty. You know, you should come to New York with us. We’re having a business trip, and we could talk more about it. And then in this trip in New York City, we sit at the Gansevoort hotel on Park Avenue. And he said, Look, I really like your idea. But before you can ever help anyone, you need to make a lot of money yourself. So I have this is Jerry saying he’s like, I have a background in real estate, pick a property Miami, pick a handful of properties, we’ll get the best one, and you’ll get a 25% ownership stake in it. And that’s exactly what I do. They suggest
George Stephanopoulos
you targeted them they end and that you may have targeted other successful women.
Giancarlo Granda
And that’s false. That’s ridiculous. That’s just them trying to to smear me. It’s i think it’s it’s kind of ridiculous to think that this 20 year old with not many resources, I don’t come from a family of a lot of money was targeting and preying upon this power couple that have all the political connections. And all the money in the world. Again, I feel like I was an ideal target for them.
George Stephanopoulos
President Trump’s former attorney Michael Cohen is claiming that he had contact with your attorney about personal photos of the fall was that they didn’t want released publicly? Did your your lawyers ever speak with Michael Cohen? About the Falwell’s? What do you know about the photos in the Falwell’s relationship with Michael Cohen?
Giancarlo Granda
Well, Michael Cohen corrected himself and he actually said that he met the attorney of a third party that was that was suing us. There’s a demand letter where they were threatening to expose the nature of this relationship. And that’s, you know, the best of my knowledge, that’s what went on. And I’ll never forget it. Winter 2014 you know, around November, December, Becky called me and she’s like, hey, that lawsuit in Florida. You know, those guys that are suing us, don’t worry about it. Michael Cohen’s gonna take care of it something to that effect, and I had no idea who he was. I didn’t know him. I’m like, Okay, all right. Great. We don’t have to worry about this. Because again, they were trying to they were threatening to reveal the nature of this relationship. And I lived through hell, that time. I was going it was a nightmare. So that that’s all I had to say about that.
George Stephanopoulos
What do you want to happen now?
Giancarlo Granda
I’ve been wanting to cut ties. Again, I have an equity stake in the company, which they offered an equity stake in the company. It has Valley and I want to cut ties. And within the operating agreement, there’s a selling mechanism. I have every right to want to sell my equity stake. I just want to cut ties. That’s all I ever wanted to do. I never asked for more than what was promised to me. And Jerry himself, memorialized this offer through text messages.
George Stephanopoulos
One final question. You also alleged Jerry Falwell Jr. sent you a compromising photo of our Liberty University student. He says the photo was a friend of his daughter in law not sexual in any way. What do you say to that and what can you tell us about the photo?
Giancarlo Granda
Look, I don’t know the context of the photo. All I know is that I was I was with him and Becky at a hotel in Miami Beach at the Loews hotel, we were having drinks. They ordered me drinks. We’re having drinks. And he sent me the picture. And I tried to act cool about it. I didn’t want to overreact. But I mediately I thought it was bizarre, you know, considering the nature of our relationship. And at that moment, I’m like, something, something more is going on here. I don’t like this, but I didn’t say anything. I didn’t know what to do. But again, I don’t know the context behind it. And whatever explanation to get is, it’s fine. That doesn’t matter. The point is, it’s why did he have that picture? Why did he share it? And why was he joking about it? he publicly said that he was joking about it. I think that’s that should raise some questions. Call
George Stephanopoulos
Granda. Thanks for your time this morning.
Giancarlo Granda
Thank you.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai