Attorneys for the bishop’s church say the accusers violated the confidentiality clause of the agreement and therefore forfeited their settlement.
Lawyers for Bishop Eddie Long’s New Birth Missionary Baptist Church are asking three men who accused Long of sexual abuse to return the nearly $1.5 million settlement they received because they say the men violated the terms of the settlement agreement.
Long is seeking to recoup at least $900,000 from Jamal Parris, Spencer LeGrande and Centino Kemp for breaking their contracted silence on the issue to speak with new outlets and to announce their plans to write a tell-all book. The men, who received a total sum of $1.5 million, were aware of the terms of the agreement at the time they decided to speak to the media, defiantly announcing that they didn’t care about the repercussions.
“I’m going to tell the world — money does not buy happiness,” LeGrande said in August, according to the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “When you sleep at night, the problems are still there. The money stuff, who cares about the number.”
“I feel like burning [the money],” he said at the time.
Last year Parris, LeGrande and three additional men came forward with allegations of sexual abuse by Long, who negotiated an out-of-court settlement with the men in September after publicly denying all claims.
(Photo: John Amis-Pool/Getty Images)
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