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NEWYORK, NEWYORK IooI9 LoS ANGELES
(212) 5C-6-t70C. MrAMI
DTRECT DIAL: (2t2) so6-1777
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DTRECT FAX: (2t2) A35-5077
M BowE@KASowrrz.coM FAX: (zrZ) 506-laOO SnN FnaNcrsco
SrricoN VALLEY
WASHINGTON DC

October 22,2019

VIA EMAIL
Brandon Ambrosino
210 Phillips Mill Lane
Newark, Delaware l97ll

Re: Liberty University and Mr. Jerry Falwell, Jr.

Dear Mr. Ambrosino:

The undersigned represents Liberty University ("LU") and Mr. Jerry Falwell, Jr. ("Mr
Falwell").

You have and continue to publicly defame LU and Mr. Falwell with a series of claims for
which you have no factual basis, that are based on knowingly misrepresented facts, or which you
have just made up. It is clear from the evidence that we have thus far uncovered that these false
and defamatory statements were made with actual malice and an intent to harm LU and Mr.
Falwell.

Most recently, our investigation has revealed that on October 7,2019 you participated in
a public forum at Villanova University in which you published the following false and
defamatory claims, among others:

1. LU is oonot a school but a real

estate hedge fund" that operates as a for-profit
entity through its fundraising, on-line educational program, endowment's real estate investments,
and in other ways in violation of its stated mission and not-for-profit status. In fact, LU provides
a quality, legitimate, accredited not-for-profit education consistent with its mission and tax
status; LU's real estate investments account for no more than l0% of its endowment (which is in
line with and much lower than most other university endowments); and most of LU's real estate
investments are contiguous to the school and supportive of its mission, unlike most real estate
investments at other universities that are wholly unrelated to their educational mission.

2. Mr. Falwell "breakfs] the law," is "comrpt," "exploits people for money," 'ouses
the gospel against them," engages in self-dealing, and improperly uses his leadership position to
enrich himself and his family and friends at the expense of LU; is similar to the fictional comrpt
preacher Elmer Gantry and the actual comrpt embezzlq and felon James Baker, and has a faith
that is racist. In fact, Mr. Falwell does not break the law, engage in corrupt or self-dealing,
exploit people for money, use the gospel against people, abuse his position to improperly enrich
himself or his family and friends, or practice a racist faith or hold racist views. Moreover, only
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Brandon Ambrosino
October 22,2019
Page2

approximately lo/o of LU's $1 billion in annual revenues comes from donations (the bulk of the
rest comes from educational services).

3. Mr. Falwell had an employee fired because his wife did not like a Facebook post
the employee made, when, in fact, the employee referenced continued to work at LU for two
years without any disciplinary or other adverse action and left of her own accord stating that it
was "nothing more than a pleasure" to have worked at LU and that she "will cherish every
moment."

4. Mr. Falwell only quotes scripture in public to defend his support of President
Trump, when, in fact, Mr. Falwell frequently quotes multiple scripture verses in public (as
simple internet and other research reveals).

These statements were false, defamatory and plainly made with malice in light of the
information known and available to you and your misrepresentation, or intentional omission, of
that information. Indeed, in the course of issuing these false and defamatory statements you
clearly demonstrated your uncontainable intent to harm LU and Mr. Falwell by recklessly
revealing the identity of one of your sources to whom you had promised anonymity in an
obvious effort to bolster the credibility and impact of your untrue claims.

These obviously defamatory claims are part of a pattern of disparagement you have
directed atLIJ and Mr. Falwell. For example, this incident follows your September 9, 2019 story
published in Politico that also defamed LU and Mr. Falwell and his family by, as you yourself
described at Villanova, intentionally (and falsely) portraying LU as a corrupt for-profit operation
that is used by Mr. Falwell for the personal gain of himself and his family and friends (a false
and defamatory portrayal you and others acknowledged at Villanova you had accomplished in
your Politico story). In the course of doing so, your story repeatedly stated and portrayed that
Mr. Falwell and his family were personally profiting from various transactions and investments,
when, in fact, they held no personal financial interests in those ventures or minimal interests that
were entirely appropriate and disclosed. In doing so, you misrepresented various facts known to
you, and never bothered to afford LU or Mr. Falwell an opportunity to address other claims,
obviously because you knew doing so would belie the false and defamatory portrayal you wanted
to present, including, but not limited to, the following:

1. Mr. Falwell had an employee fired over a Facebook post his wife did not like.

2. Mr. Falwell's brother "doesn't hold any sway - spiritual or otherwise - over the
university that grew out of the church he leads," when, in fact, Jonathan Falwell is on the Board
of Trustees, chairs its Spiritual Mission Committee, and is the only speaker who is invited to
speak at convocation every year, all of which were facts that are publicly known and which the
readers would have otherwise known had you afforded LU or Mr. Falwell an opportunity to
respond to your false and defamatory portrayal in the story you published.
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Brandon Ambrosino
October 22,2019
Page 3

3. Mr. Falwell caused LU to acquire properties belonging to his brother's church to

consolidate his power and control over his brother's objection, when, in fact, LU's purchase had
the support of his brother and the church's governing board, saved the church from a distressed
financial situation and an inability to sell properties with otherwise limited sale potential, and left
the church debt free for the first time in its history -- all consistent with Dr. Jerry Falwell, Sr.'s
vision and intentions for the church and LU. Again, all of these were facts known but
intentionally omitted from your story and otherwise would have been known to your readers had
you afforded LU or Mr. Falwell an opportunity to respond to your false and defamatory portrayal
in the story you published.

4. LU provides special promotions to steer business to a hotel in which Trey Falwell

owns an economic interest as part of the alleged self-dealing you falsely portray, when, in fact,
this hotel has been treated identically to, and pays the same costs to participate in promotional
programs as, all other such businesses, which are facts you knew but intentionally omitted, had
no basis to conclude were otherwise, and would have been known to your readers had you
afforded LU or Mr. Falwell an opportunity to respond to your false and defamatory portrayal in
the story you published.

5. LU used tuition money to acquire a shopping center and steer the property's
management contract to a company Trey Falwell formed as part of the alleged self-dealing you
falsely portray, when, in fact, you knew, but intentionally misrepresented and omitted, that this
property was donated, not purchased, was distressed, almost empty, and would have been of
minimal interest to the more established management companies handling other LU properties;
Trey Falwell's company was paid market rates that were disclosed and audited; and Trey
Falwell's company successfully turned the distressed property into a profitable venture able to
attract an established management company.

6. LU entered into non-competitive, no-bid contracts with a company owned by an

individual with "deep-seated ties to the Falwell family" as part of the alleged self-dealing you
falsely portray, when, in fact, you knew, but intentionally misrepresented and omitted, that this
individual's personal relationship with the Falwell family was intermittent and far fromoodeep
seated," and that, while there had not been a formal bidding process, the contract was entered
into for legitimate business purposes based on competitive financial analyses of each candidate
companies' performance and capabilities for the proposed work that was completely inconsistent
with any non-commercial motive.

7 . Mr. Falwell caused LU to sell a fitness center to his personal trainer at a depressed
price as part of the alleged self-dealing you falsely portray, when, in fact, you knew, but
intentionally omitted that (a) the facility was an almost 50-year old distressed property that had
been donated to the school when it could not be sold by its previous owners, (b) the facility was
remote to campus, losing money, in need of substantial capital improvements, and used almost
exclusively by LU's tennis team because the regular student body had other alternatives on or
closer to campus, (c) the transaction economics were a product of the property's distressed
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Brandon Ambrosino
October 22,2019
Page 4

condition and LU's contractual ability to continue using the center for ovgr a decade, and (d) LU
believed that the distressed property was likely otherwise unmarketable.

8. LU's general counsel had expressed concerns about the appearance ofthe fitness
center sale, when, in fact, the emails referenced, of which you had a copy, were from a much
later date after the sale had occurred and referred to the proper way to address subsequent
disputes over breaches of the sale and use agreement, not the original sale.

9. Mr. Falwell and his son had "photos [] taken . . . partyin g at a Miami nightclub"
and Mr. Falwell later tried to get those photos suppressed on the internet, when, in fact, the photo
to which you were referring was simply an innocuous photo of a crowd at a concert of which Mr.
Falwell and his son were apart, depicted Mr. Falwell simply standing there, not "partying," and
Mr. Falwell was neither aware of the photo, nor directed others to remove or suppress it from the
internet.

10. Trey Falwell posted an Instagram photo of $12,000 in cash on a bed while on a
trip to New York and then deleted it, when, in fact, you had no evidence of any such posting and
none ever existed or was deleted.

1 1. Mr. Falwell caused LU to hire an internet consultant, Red Finch, owned by LU's
CIO, to provide recruiting services as a way of currying favor with and controlling the CIO,
when, in fact, Red Finch was a contractor for LU long before this individual was promoted to
CIO, Red Finch was retained by a now former employee who did not discuss the retention with,
or talk to, Mr. Falwell, and Red Finch was retained because a former employee familiar with the
recruiting project had just joined Red Finch. These were all facts you misrepresented and
omitted and which the readers would have otherwise known had you afforded LU or Mr. Falwell
an opportunity to respond to your false and defamatory portrayal in the story you published.

12.Your mischaracteization of various opinions from experts you consulted that

were obviously cherry-picked from responses they gave concerning fact patterns other than those
you actually described in your story, or which actually existed, and which created the false and
defamatory impression that the experts were criticizing the conduct actually alleged in the story
and supporting its false and defamatory allegations of comrption and self-dealing.

We hereby demand that you immediately retract these false and defamatory statements
and cease and desist from making these or other false and defamatory claims in the future.

Be advised that our investigation is ongoing and that the commencement of a defamation
action against you and others is likely. Accordingly, you are legally obligated to immediately
preserve all materials potentially relevant to such a claim, including all notes, drafts,
communications, emails, texts, direct messages, social media, and records of payments for work
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Brandon Ambrosino
October 22,2019
Page 5

related in any way to LU or Mr. Falwell or his family. If you have, or retain, counsel, please
have them contact me immediately.

We reserve all our rights.

Very

Michael J. Bowe