Jim Bakker's Christian TV Empire Fell Due to a $158 Million Fraud Scheme

Jim Bakker, the televangelist who built one of the largest Christian broadcasting empires in the country before a sex and financial scandal sent him to federal prison, died on October 5, 2026, at 86 years old. His career traced an unusually steep arc: from a cultural phenomenon reaching millions of households nightly to a convicted fraudster who served nearly five years behind bars, to, remarkably, a second television ministry that began almost a decade after his release.

Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, began as traveling evangelists after marrying in 1961, with Tammy Faye singing alongside his sermons. The couple built The PTL Club—PTL being short for “Praise the Lord”—into a nightly staple of Christian television, drawing as many as 13 million viewers at its mid-1980s peak. Their flamboyant public personas also made them frequent targets of late-night comedy and television satire. Their ministry's centerpiece was Heritage USA, a Christian theme park and hotel the couple built in Fort Mill, S.C., at the height of PTL's influence.

The way Bakker raised money for Heritage USA ultimately led to his downfall.

Prosecutors said Bakker sold supporters “lifetime partnerships” that promised lodging and other benefits at the resort. According to the federal appeals court, PTL offered 11 partnership programs priced between $500 and $10,000. Bakker had promised to limit Grand Hotel partnerships to 25,000 but ultimately sold 66,683. The scheme raised at least $158 million through the sale of approximately 153,000 partnerships that included lodging benefits.

Partnership funds were used to cover PTL’s operating expenses and what the appeals court called Bakker’s “lavish lifestyle”—including gold-plated bathroom fixtures and an air-conditioned doghouse—while the overwhelming majority of purchasers never received the promised lodging benefits.

The scheme might have continued unchecked if not for a separate scandal. In March 1987, revelations about a sexual encounter between Bakker and former PTL secretary Jessica Hahn became a public scandal. Hahn alleged she had been sexually assaulted; Bakker maintained that the encounter was consensual.

According to contemporary reporting, PTL funds were allegedly used to arrange a settlement of approximately $265,000 for Hahn through an intermediary in exchange for her not speaking about what happened or filing suit. Bakker resigned from PTL that same month, handing control of the ministry to fellow televangelist Jerry Falwell.

This controversy triggered a federal investigation into PTL's finances. A grand jury indicted Bakker in December 1988 on 24 counts: eight of mail fraud, 15 of wire fraud and one of conspiracy. A jury convicted him on all counts in 1989, and a judge sentenced him to 45 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.

An appeals court upheld Bakker’s conviction but vacated his sentence, ruling that the trial judge’s remarks about his own religious beliefs were an improper sentencing factor. Bakker was resentenced to eight years in 1992, the same year he and Tammy Faye divorced. He was paroled in 1994 after serving nearly five years.

Bakker returned to television ministry in 2003 with The Jim Bakker Show, which he hosted with his second wife, Lori Bakker.

In 2021, Bakker and Morningside Church Productions settled a Missouri lawsuit over claims that Silver Solution, a health supplement, could cure COVID-19. The consent judgment provided $156,000 in restitution and prohibited marketing the product to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure disease. Bakker and Morningside Church Productions denied any wrongdoing as part of the settlement, with Bakker’s attorney saying the judgment “made no findings whatsoever that our clients violated any laws.”

In a statement made after his death, Lori called Jim “a pioneer of Christian television.” Decades after his conviction, his name remains shorthand for televangelism's excesses—a reminder of how easily donated money, and donors' trust, can be misused in the name of faith.