Jerry Falwell Jr. Resigns from Liberty University amid Sex Scandal Involving Wife and Pool Boy

Jerry Falwell Jr. has stepped down as president of Liberty University amid his involvement in a sex scandal involving his wife and a Florida pool attendant.

“The Liberty University Board of Trustees acted today to accept the resignation of Jerry Falwell, Jr. as its president and chancellor and also accepted his resignation from its Board of Directors," a spokesperson for Liberty University said in a statement on Tuesday. "All were effective immediately . . . Falwell, through an attorney, sent the resignation letter late last night to members of the Board’s Executive Committee pursuant to the terms of his contract of employment.”

Falwell’s exit comes amid a controversy that he’s labeled an extortion plot and compared to the movie Fatal Attraction: a pool attendant named Giancarlo Granda claimed to have had an “intimate relationship” with Falwell’s wife, Becki Falwell, from 2012 to 2018 — with Falwell, 58, as an audience.

The release said that Falwell on Monday agreed to immediately resign, but then reversed course, only to send his resignation letter late Monday night. His severance will be doled out as per the terms of his pre-existing employment agreement, the details of which remain unclear.

“The university’s heartfelt prayers are with him and his family as he steps away from his life’s work,” a Liberty press release said.

Falwell, a prominent evangelical, had been head of Liberty, one of the country’s largest Christian schools, since his father died in 2007. Pastor Jerry Falwell Sr. founded Liberty in 1971.

Before news of the alleged affair broke this week, Falwell Jr. had been on an indefinite leave of absence from the school after he posted a photo to social media that showed him with his arm around his wife’s assistant and his pants undone earlier this month.

Then on Monday, Granda, 29, told Reuters that his relationship with Becki Falwell began in 2012, and that he’d meet up with her and her husband several times each year, corroborating his claims with “emails, text messages and other evidence,” according to the outlet.

Falwell told The Washington Examiner in a statement released just prior to the bombshell claims that the affair did not involve him, and that Becki, 53, had had “an inappropriate personal relationship” with a man they met on vacation at a hotel eight years ago.

He said the couple overcame that indiscretion, and became friendly with Granda, his family and friends, before Granda allegedly “became increasingly angry and aggressive” and allegedly threatened to make the affair public unless he was paid “substantial monies.”

Granda denied the blackmail allegation to the Examiner.

Representatives for Jerry Falwell Jr. and Granda did not respond to PEOPLE's request for comment on Monday.