Auto dealer and conservative political donor Lee Beaman is temporarily leaving Belmont University’s board as he faces allegations of “degradation, control, manipulation and abuse” in his ongoing divorce proceedings with wife Kelley Beaman.
“Lee Beaman has requested and been granted by the Chairman of Belmont’s Board of Trustees a leave of absence from the board until his family dispute is resolved,” the school said in a statement Tuesday.
Lee Beaman filed for divorce late last year, with the case set to go to trial this week in Davidson County Circuit Court. Kelley Beaman’s pre-trial brief, filed last week, accuses Lee Beaman of, among other things, forcing her to watch videos of him having sex with a prostitute, persuading her to have joint sexual encounters with prostitutes and watching pornography on his iPad while in the room with his family, including his minor son.
Lee Beaman’s lawyers in response called the allegations “immaterial, impertinent and scandalous matter only meant to harass Mr. Beaman,” but did not dispute the accuracy of the claims.
Beaman is a frequent donor to local and national political causes, including the campaigns of Republicans Marsha Blackburn and Roy Moore and the effort to defeat a multibillion dollar transit referendum in Nashville earlier this year. He was also a financial supporter of the 2009 campaign to pass an English-only amendment to the city charter.
Beaman also sits on the board at Montgomery Bell Academy, representatives for which could not immediately be reached for comment.
Update: The Tennessean reports that Beaman has temporarily left MBA's board and is no longer affiliated with the Beacon Center of Tennessee, a libertarian-leaning think tank and advocacy group on whose board he sat. As recently as Saturday, the organization's website listed him as a board member, but he has since been removed.
