The pool attendant at the center of America’s craziest sex scandal | 60 Minutes Australia

religion sex and politics are an Unholy Trinity just ask Giancarlo Grande he was only 20 years old working as a hotel pool attendant when a woman invited him back to her room to attend to her Giancarlo didn't know it at first but this was to be a three-way tryst he also didn't realize his new friends a married couple were two of the biggest names in America's Evangelical movement in fact the husband Jerry Falwell Jr was also a political King maker who helped Donald Trump win the presidency in 2016. but the biggest surprise was the god awful mess created when this humble Hotel employee tried to expose the rank hypocrisy of these religious zealots [Music] Miami Beach Florida is a renowned party playground and smack bang in the middle of the action is the luxury Fontainebleau Hotel the music starts kicking in people start drinking the pool you know gets packed and it's more of a party scene at that point kind of turns into like a like a Las Vegas uh pool party people were you know uh people are there for a reason giancola grunder knows all about the atmosphere pool site at the thousand dollar a night Hotel he worked there as an attendant setting up Cabanas and bringing guests drinks it was a fun and flirtatious workplace was there a sense that a lot of people at IU often say it is not a bad looking boy yeah especially when I was 20 years old I was in pretty good shape you know I yeah I'll get some compliments and there was one woman who really took things to the next level so yeah I mean this woman she did stand now because she was just eyeing me down this University's mission was to train champions for Christ Giancarlo could have realized he was about to be caught up in a decade-long scandal that would expose the outrageous hypocrisy of two of America's most high-profile religious leaders this is the DraStic fall of an Evangelical Dynasty and it's a drama that gets more bizarre at every turn a Hollywood actor and even a U.S president caught up in this Unholy Affair the story really is nuts isn't it the story is that that's what attracted me to it but it's a story about ultimate power which ultimate power leads to Ultimate corruption and one man Giancarlo Gardner one man brought it down [Music] it was poolside at Miami's Fontainebleau Hotel in 2012 where it all began when Giancarlo was being hit on by a hotel guest called Becky and I noticed that she was taking pictures of me which is kind of unusual we start chatting uh she told me you know don't waste your time with the younger ones they don't know what they're doing what did you take that to mean you know as a 20 year old I'm like huh you know that caught my attention there and uh I realized that um you know she was obviously flirting with me and we just started talking from there and so I think things escalated pretty quickly didn't they yeah it did escalate pretty quickly so towards the end of the shift after we were flirting for a few hours she made a proposition she's like do you want to go back to my hotel room and obviously as a 20 year old being a single 20 year old I'm like yeah let's I would love to Becky hired a new hotel room for the catch-up but it turned out there was more to this steamy Rendezvous than a nervous Giancarlo had bargained for what caught me off guard was that uh she told me her husband wanted to watch and immediately I just I kind of pulled back I was about to say no internally I was telling myself this is weird definitely not but she told me that you know don't worry about it he's not going to uh he's not gonna do anything he's just gonna sit in the corner and just watch and just show it clear when he was there what was he doing uh when he was there um obviously the audience is wondering what was he doing in the corner and um uh the so he was he was masturbating you know he was masturbating in the corner [Music] some wild one-off experience for a 20 year old yet he was shocked when Becky followed up wanting more action and suggested the hotel worker go on a holiday with she and her husband this is where Becky just dropped to love bomb on me you know she's like I love you and this was just a couple of weeks after meeting her and I thought that was unusual and at that point I'm like and how many people do you do this with but an even bigger shock came when Giancarlo Googled the names of the husband and wife he was tangled up with hey was Jerry Falwell Jr a high-profile president of Liberty University America's largest Evangelical College all of a sudden this humble pool attendant realized the moral hypocrisy of the married couple he'd been hooking up with so thank you Becky I couldn't do it without you Not only was Jerry a prominent voice in conservative politics who was also the son of famous televangelist Jerry Falwell senior the patriarch was the founder of Liberty University but better known for outrageous religious proclamations including blaming the September 11 Terror attacks on minority groups I really believe that the pagans and the abortionists and the feminists of the gays and the lesbians who were actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle all of them who tried to secularize America I want the thing in their face and say you helped this happen how would you describe the moral compass of Liberty University Liberty University's moral compass um you know spins like a like a top what Liberties leaders have done is uh is sort of hijack um key parts of of the Christian faith and use them uh to to validate a political agenda and to make themselves rich and nothing could be more offensive to Christianity than that Dustin Wilde is a former student at Liberty University who founded a group trying to reform the college's Hardline agenda both in terms of morality on campus and external political influence seems like it's almost impossible not to link Liberty University with the full well family and then in turn almost impossible to not associate the full worlds with politics that's exactly right the the far worlds are are inseparable from the school both farwell's saw their uh role at Liberty as uh as a largely political one if not primarily political now fully aware of who he was cavorting with Giancarlo grunder was feeling increasingly uncomfortable about his ongoing tryst with Becky and Jerry Falwell Jr not only that he now had a girlfriend his own age yet Giancarlo claims that when he broke the news to Becky that he wanted out of their unusual relationship he felt she tried to blackmail him she texted me um like in like a still image of a video of me in the hotel room and it was at that moment where I'm like wait a minute you guys were recording me I didn't know this I didn't consent to this and immediately I felt um I felt vulnerable at that point and it felt like it was in my opinion it kind of felt like a subtle like a subtle threat it's like uh look what we have on you President Obama to release his birth certificate just when Giancarlo thought things couldn't get any stranger enter Donald J Trump and a new deal with the devil please welcome to Liberty University For the First Time Dr Donald Trump [Applause] just as Giancarlo Grande was trying to step back from his complicated three-way relationship with famous evangelists Becky and Jerry Falwell Jr they had a new proposition for him the four Wells paid eight million dollars to buy the Alton hostel in Miami and offered Giancarlo a 24 share in the property in return for him managing it Jerry said well you know why don't we uh wait why don't we set you up and you know sir sir business together and you can make your first million and then we'll celebrate when you're 20 years old how can you say no to that if someone if you have wealthy investors who are willing to invest in you and give you Equity stake in a property in South Beach you know you got to take it it was soon another property Mogul on the scene Giancarlo was all of a sudden hanging out with then Presidential candidate Donald Trump a close friend of the four Wells Trump walks in with Jerry you know Jerry points at me he's like oh that's her friend from the Fallen blue and Trump obviously larger than the Life personalities like oh the fountain blue I love it and um you know we shook hands he signed my bug he said Giancarlo work hard it was a pretty cool moment in the back of your head though are you kind of thinking hey how do I end up here yeah how did I end the period that was definitely just kind of going through my through my minds but I go with the flow did you have a little bit of Stockholm syndrome why did you keep keep it going for so long you're not the first person to say that to mention Stockholm syndrome uh yeah I I I guess there's a part of me that was kind of like uh I felt like I was obligated or I kind of had to stick with a you know it's just like wow they're doing so much for me I gotta just even if I feel uncomfortable I gotta just uh bite the bullet and just keep going it might seem impossible but this is where the story gets even stranger are you happy with the arrival of Donald Trump's then fixer and lawyer turned Prison inmate Michael Cohen when sexually compromising photos of Becky fall into the wrong hands he helps the four Wells get them back but then sometime later Cohen asks for a favor in return he wants Jerry Falwell Jr to become the first prominent religious leader to publicly endorse Donald Trump's presidential nomination Donald Trump is a breath of fresh air in a nation where the political establishment from both parties has portrayed their constituencies time and time again Trump announcing another huge endorsement by tweeting great honor Reverend Jerry Falwell Jr of Liberty University one of the most respected religious leaders in our nation has just endorsed me many students at Liberty University like Dustin Wilde couldn't believe that their supposedly Christian College was promoting this man to be president Donald Trump infamously said that he grabbed a Woman by I'm dead I'm familiar with the clip I think we know it um yes so there's that one but he said so many things about other minority groups as well were their eyebrows raised that this was the kind of man that an Evangelical Church wanted to endorse as the president there were some eyebrows raised but not enough um fallwell Junior stood by Trump's side all throughout that and said that there was nothing Trump could say that would keep him from getting Falwell Junior's support did Donald Trump align with Christian values in your mind there's nothing about Donald Trump or trumpism that is reflected in Christianity [Music] to win the election in part due to huge support of the polls from the religious right you'll be so proud of your president you'll be so proud and I love this country thank you thank you very much the secret of Michael Cohen's involvement and the full Wells nude photos remained undisclosed for years until in 2019 the story got even weirder with the intervention of Hollywood actor Tom Arnold has a Hollywood star like you end up involved in a story like this well it started with Donald Trump as all uh the horrible stories start [Music] in the 90s as an actor and comedian most notably on the sitcom Roseanne but in recent years he's reinvented himself as an online sleuth digging for dirt on Donald Trump so step up and do something or say something as part of that he recorded conversations with Michael Cohen who opened up to him in 2019 about the full well photographs that team Trump had acquired during the campaign there's a bunch of photographs you know personal photographs that somehow the the guy ended up getting oh well it was awesome Jerry's phone or somehow maybe it got airdropped or whatever the hell the whole thing was even though she's a she's a very nice figure um you know nobody wants that no you know their private photo style and Michael called went to him and said hey Jerry uh the naked pictures of your wife Etc uh well I still got one of the pictures and uh I need you to do me a favor for my boss it'll really make me look good if you support him support Donald Trump and that's the reason you know it was payback for the naked pictures the photos that Michael Cohen said he had did you ever say to myself yes the picture was very very very very intimate post love making picture and whatever you take that as you that's all I can say on your Network critically at the time tomorrow also became aware the four Wells had struck an unusual business deal with a young man they met at a hotel in Miami by the name of Giancarlo Grande Giancarlo was trying to move on with his life by then but the four Wells had locked him in to this business Arrangement and Becky continued to hit on him the descendant of Mexican migrants was now also disgusted that the four Wells had helped put Donald Trump in office when I first met Donald Trump in 2012 I liked them I admired him but obviously that changed in uh around 2016 with his comments about Mexicans I'm half Mexican my mom is from Mexico so immediately I was just kind of turned off by him I did something I don't think that he should be the representative of the United States I don't think that he should have the nuclear codes I was the four Wells thought they could keep Giancarlo silent but little did they know he had a smoking gun that was about to expose their hypocrisy to the world did Giancarlo Grande bring down a dynasty I you know I'd like to think so the better part of a decade Giancarlo Grande rolled with the punches his life through all sorts of combinations at him nowadays keeping active is critical in him staying in control of his mental health but four years ago he was spiraling living in a seemingly inescapable nightmare of a controlling sexual and business relationship with Becky and Jerry Falwell Jr do you think the four Wells are predators right so like you know groom whenever someone says grooming you think of like oh it has to be like a kid or something but no I I believe anyone could be groomed for anything right especially if you hold power over them I I do believe that uh you know whatever you want to call it they definitely manipulated me they uh I I feel like I was used I was in a very uh dark uh chapter in my life Doc is is is almost a con way of describing them and he you weren't you were in a bad place yeah I was definitely in a bad place I mean my life was crumbling right in front of me my professional reputation everything was just crumbling um I texted Becky I basically said uh whenever they find my lifeless body uh please return my dog to my family I wanted to get away from the Falls I wanted nothing to do with them at that point but it was just all the doors were just closing the four wheels had made it clear that if Giancarlo raised the alarm he'd be painted as an extortionist who'd made the whole thing up but they didn't realize he had the proof he needed to show it was Becky who was the protagonist and Jerry was in on it all too Giancarlo had filmed a FaceTime call from the married mother of three as she boasted about their wild sexual Rendezvous and Jerry was there again watching on the Smoking Gun was the FaceTime recording from January 2018. it's Keys closed right there everything that I said I promise you that it's all backed by evidence so what's Becky saying to you in that video uh she was just walking around her house I mean with the camera pointing at her uh she's naked topless completely naked um nothing on and she has a glass of white wine she's just kind of pointing at every spot that we had sex and so like oh do you remember that spot and it was like the kitchen island uh then she went up to one of the kids rooms she's like do you remember that I'm like yeah she had sex with you in our own children's bedrooms yeah you know looking back now it's you know very weird to think about but yes we did we had sex in one of her kids rooms uh we had sex obviously in her you know in the master bedroom I believe that it's Case Closed if you actually analyze all the evidence it's it's just undeniable despite his defense that it was all in good fun Liberty University put the 58 year old on indefinite leave when Giancarlo Grande Finally Revealed all in 2020 it made headline news around the world ball World tells CBS News he believes he was targeted because later that day Jerry Falwell Jr resigned as president of Liberty University this is the DraStic fall of an Evangelical Dynasty Mark Ebner is a New York Times best-selling author who's now written a book on this extraordinary political and religious scandal they really believed that they were Untouchable do you think the four Wells were drunk on power one thing and it's almost cliche that uh Jerry Falwell Jr said to uh uh John Carlo when he was being courted by Trump for a position actually in his cabinet he was being wooed and when John Carlos said listen do you do you see yourself as ever running for office and how Jerry Falwell Jr responded he said Giancarlo it's better to be a king maker than a king uh he knew his power he knew the power of his power but he also knew that it had limits hey Jerry it's Thomas typhen from 60 Minutes Australia how you doing Tom nice to see you Jerry Jerry Falwell Jr concedes his wife had a lengthy affair with Giancarlo Grande but when we contacted him on Thursday he was adamant he was never involved in the sexual relationship but did it happen the three-way trist no no I just walked into a three tops after I knew it was going on walked out and that's the whole story but you never took part never never ever so why would he make this up money money that's it a few hours after my call with Jerry fullwell another twist Becky got in touch demanding her say as well hello is that Becky yeah I can't do a FaceTime right now cause I'm in bed Becky accepts she did the wrong thing bed says she's sick of her entire family being punished for it okay so the most important thing about Christianity is that everyone makes mistakes and everyone sins and then the whole point of Jesus Christ coming and dying on the cross was to forgive the Sinners for their sins and so the whole hypocrisy thing is a bunch of [ __ ] because nobody is perfect and why about hell did a different standard because my husband was a president of a university Becky Falwell is like well Jerry forgives me and so that makes everything all right does Jesus forgive you does your God forgive you well she probably believes that's the case but she missed one key point of forgiveness and that is a speck of remorse Maybe a willingness to make amends none of that factors in with the falwells and so consequently they can burn in hell after nearly a decade of Mind Games Giancarlo Grande is now finally able to speak the truth about the Scandal that dominated his twenties but he says as he enters his 30s he's more mature for the experience and definitely much stronger it's been a wild ride would you do it all again dark chapters in your life tough moments uh they build character right so there is a point where I I was in a really dark place and I regretted everything but I realized that look this is out of my control it happened I can't really do that but I feel like I'm a stronger person now because of it um and again I feel proud for um for exposing uh corruption for exposing predatory behavior um and and just kind of standing up for myself I believe that my younger self would be proud of me hello I'm Tom Steinfeld thank you for watching 60 Minutes Australia subscribe to our Channel now for brand new stories and exclusive Clips every week and don't miss out on our extra minute segments and full episodes of 60 minutes which are on nine now.com and the nine Now app

Channel: 60 Minutes Australia

Views: 1,595,724

Keywords: 60 Minutes, 60 Minutes Australia, Liz Hayes, Tara Brown, Tom Steinfort, 60Mins, #60Mins, Amelia Adams, US, U.S., UNITED STATES, POLITICS, DONALD TRUMP, TRUMP, TRUMPISM, 2016 ELECTION, 2016 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION, 2016 US ELECTION, JERRY FALWELL JR, JERRY FALWELL, BECKI FALWELL, GIANCARLO GRANDA, TOM ARNOLD, SEX SCANDAL, SEX SCANDALS IN US HISTORY, WHITE HOUSE, EVANGELICAL SCHOOL, RELIGION, EVANGELICAL, LIBERTY UNIVERSITY, MIAMI BEACH PARTY

Id: viOw7poC_Rs

Length: 24min 47sec (1487 seconds)

Published: Sun Apr 09 2023