The now infamous photo of Jerry Falwell, Jr. posing with his pants unzipped while wrapping his arm around his wife’s personal assistant was taken aboard the personal yacht of a NASCAR team owner to whom Liberty University paid millions of dollars in a sponsorship deal, leading to questions about Falwell personally benefiting from University funds, Politico reports.
Falwell was a frequent guest on the superyacht Wheels, owned by Hendrick Motorsports owner Rick Hendrick. Falwell would take his wife, children, friends and staff on trips on the yacht, allegedly without reporting the perk to officials at Liberty University.
Since 2018, Liberty University has sponsored a racecar on the Hendricks team, which typically costs millions dollars per year, depending on the driver and race series. According to information from Liberty University, the school paid Hendrick an average of $6 million per year.
Last summer, Falwell posted photos on social media of him and his family vacationing on Wheels. The previous year, he posted other photos of jetskiing off the coast of Greece while traveling aboard another private yacht.
“The only thing better than working with @libertyuniversity supporters on their yacht in the Greek Islands is working with them on both of their yachts!” he said in an Instagram post in June 2018, according to Politico.
This year, Falwell posted photos of his daughter getting engaged in Key West. In the background of the photos was Wheels.
Hendrick Motorsports is reportedly working with Liberty University to develop an auto dealership management program through the university, but that was not part of the sponsorship deal, nor was the use of the yacht.