Entertainmentupdated 2h ago2 min read
Jim Bakker Dies At 86 After PTL Club Fraud And Conspiracy Conviction
Jim Bakker died at 86, announced by his wife Lori Bakker. He built The PTL Club empire; later jailed for fraud and conspiracy tied to sex scandal.
Bakker Dies at 86
Jim Bakker, the US televangelist who built The PTL Club before being jailed for fraud and conspiracy, died at 86, his second wife Lori Bakker announced on Monday. Lori Bakker described him as "a pioneer of Christian television" and said, "my best friend, and the main I was honoured to walk beside through so many seasons of life and ministry". Bakker and Tammy Faye founded The PTL Club in 1974, and the program at its peak attracted 13 million viewers per day.
Bakker later resigned from the PTL ministry in 1987 after revelations of a 1980 sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn, and he was convicted in 1989 of 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy. Bakker and Tammy Faye built their empire with 2,000 employees and a 2,300 acre (930 hectare) Heritage USA theme park complex in Fort Mill, South Carolina.
Scandal, Prison, and Return
Bakker’s fall accelerated after he became embroiled by a sex scandal and later conviction of mail and wire fraud, and Tammy Faye divorced him in 1992 while he was in prison. Bakker was convicted in 1989 of 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy in a scheme involving their Christian theme park, and he served more than four years in prison. Lori Bakker said in a statement that "He was a pioneer of Christian television, but to me, he was my husband, my best friend" and added that she was "honoured to walk beside" him through ministry.
Bakker remarried in 1998, and alongside second wife Lori launched a new TV ministry in 2003 with The Jim Bakker Show. The couple began taping "The Jim Bakker Show" in 2008, after Bakker’s release from prison in 1994.
Legacy and Final Days
Lori Bakker said Bakker died Monday and did not specify the cause of death, while she described his final days as still focused on "the work of God and for the Gospel to continue reaching the world". Bakker and Tammy Faye’s ministry included The PTL Club, and their empire included Heritage USA in Fort Mill, South Carolina. Bakker’s first program The PTL Club, "Praise the Lord" or "People That Love" cemented his fame with Tammy Faye.
Bakker wrote a book titled "I Was Wrong" following his release from prison in 1994, and he married Lori in 1998. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020, and the couple lived near the Missouri entertainment town of Branson while filming The Jim Bakker Show there since it launched in 2003.