Eddie Long’s Church Wants Settlement Money Back in Sexual Coercion Suit
New Birth Missionary Baptist Church wants a partial refund.
Attorneys representing Bishop Eddie Long’s church have notified three of the five young men who alleged the pastor coerced them into engaging in sexual immorality that they want nearly $1 million of the financial settlement returned, according to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
Drew Eckl & Farnham sent the letter, alleging that Jamal Parris, Spencer LeGrande and Centino Kemp violated the terms of a confidentiality agreement that was part of the settlement deal, the paper reports. The New Birth is demanding arbitration.
“No one’s going to turn over the money just simply because you’ve asked for it,” Atlanta litigator Hayden Pace told the Journal-Constitution. “You’re going to have to earn it back by establishing your right to it in the courts.”
The new twist in the controversial case comes about six weeks after Spencer LeGrande and Jamal Parris went on record in media interviews with plans to write a book telling what they claim are the gory details behind the scandal they ignited in the Pentecostal Church.
“It’s just not enough anymore. I thought I could cover the pain up. I thought I could move, start over and everything will go away. I was terribly wrong,” Parris told CNN Atlanta affiliate WSB in August.
The young men told WSB they can no longer keep quiet, and they are approaching the book project as part of the healing process.
“You ain’t ready for the secrets,” Parris said. “I don’t care if this book sells one copy. But if it’s just for me, this is what my life looked like, this is my voice for the first time.”
Long, who oversees the 25,000-member New Birth Missionary Baptist Church, has continued to say he is innocent of the charges against him.
