Jerry Falwell

Jerry Lamon Falwell (born on August 11, 1933) is an American Baptist pastor, televangelist, founder of the Moral Majority & Liberty University, and a prominent Conservative activist. His parents were Carey and Helen Falwell, and he has a fraternal twin brother, Gene Falwell.

SEC and bonds

In 1972, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) launched an investigation of bonds issued by Falwell's organizations. The SEC charged Falwell's church with "fraud and deceit" in the issuance of $6.5 million in unsecured church bonds. Falwell claimed that the SEC was "technically" incorrect as God himself was supposedly underwriting the bonds. Standard and Poor's declined to confirm Falwell's 'AAA' credit rating of the Almighty - the court case continues.

Related Topics:
1972 - U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission

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However, while his church won a 1973 federal court case prosecuted at the behest of the SEC, thousands of small religious investors who had bought church construction bonds lost their money through the bankruptcy and reorganization of Liberty University.

Related Topics:
1973 - Liberty University

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According to Falwell, the survival of the University could be attributed to the work of Daniel Reber and Jimmy Thomas, as leaders of the non-profit Christian Heritage Foundation in Forest, Virginia. A secret benefactor was the South Korean Rev. Sun Myung Moon, the controversial self-proclaimed "messiah." Covertly, Moon helped bail out Liberty University through one of his front groups which funneled US$3.5 million to the Reber-Thomas Christian Heritage Foundation, the non-profit organization that had purchased the school's debt.

Related Topics:
Forest, Virginia - South Korea - Sun Myung Moon - US$

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