Culture
Televangelist Jim Bakker, undone by 1980s fraud conviction and sex scandal, dead at 86
October 6, 2026 at 09:40 AM
Coverage
3 reports · over 10 hours
BNBBC News
US televangelist Jim Bakker, disgraced from sex scandal and fraud, dies at 86
(opens the publisher’s site)
TGThe Guardian
US televangelist Jim Bakker, ensnared in fraud and sex scandal, dead at 86
(opens the publisher’s site)
CNCNN
Televangelist Jim Bakker, who built a faith-based empire before resigning amid scandal, dies at 86
(opens the publisher’s site)Televangelist Jim Bakker, who built a multimillion-dollar TV ministry before a 1989 fraud conviction and exit from PTL over a sex scandal, has died aged 86.
- Lori Bakker announced her husband's death on The Jim Bakker Show's social media; the cause was not revealed.
- Bakker resigned from the PTL ministry in 1987 amid revelations of a 1980 sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn.
- In 1989, Bakker was convicted on 24 counts of fraud and conspiracy and sentenced to 45 years in prison; he served under five.
- In 2020, Missouri's attorney general sued Bakker's show for marketing a silver solution as a coronavirus cure.