Jim Bakker is an American televangelist who co-founded the PTL ministry and the Heritage USA resort in the 1970s and 1980s, was convicted in 1989 on 24 federal counts of fraud and conspiracy for bilking followers out of hundreds of millions of dollars, served nearly five years in prison, and now broadcasts a daily television show from a compound in the Missouri Ozarks.1ABC News. The Scandals That Brought Down the Bakkers
PTL and the Heritage USA Partnerships
Bakker and his first wife, Tammy Faye Bakker, built PTL (“Praise the Lord”) into one of the largest televangelism operations in the country. Its centerpiece was Heritage USA, a 2,300-acre resort and theme park in Fort Mill, South Carolina, with hotels, chapels, a water park, and the PTL satellite network.1ABC News. The Scandals That Brought Down the Bakkers
The financing engine was a “lifetime partnership” program. In exchange for a $1,000 donation, supporters were promised an annual three-night stay at the Heritage Grand hotel. Bakker told followers the program would be capped at 25,000 partnerships. By the end of 1987, PTL had sold 159,903 of them for a 500-room hotel that could never house even a fraction of the buyers. Between 1984 and 1987, the scheme brought in more than $400 million.2U.S. Postal Inspection Service. Heritage USA Fraud
Money that was supposed to fund construction was routinely diverted to operating expenses and to the Bakkers’ personal lifestyle, which included multiple homes, a private jet, two Rolls Royces, a Mercedes-Benz, and extensive personal spending.1ABC News. The Scandals That Brought Down the Bakkers Jim and Tammy Faye together had received $4.8 million in salary, bonuses, and other payments since 1984.3New York Times. PTL Asks Court for Protection From Creditors
The Jessica Hahn Scandal
What pulled the whole operation into public view was not the fraud but a sexual scandal. In March 1987, the Charlotte Observer published Charles Shepard’s investigation of PTL, which revealed that in December 1980, Bakker had a sexual encounter with church secretary Jessica Hahn in a hotel room in Clearwater Beach, Florida. Hahn, then 21, said the encounter was a sexual assault; Bakker later maintained in his book I Was Wrong that it was consensual. The ministry had paid Hahn more than $200,000 in hush money.1ABC News. The Scandals That Brought Down the Bakkers Shepard’s reporting later won a Pulitzer Prize.4Charlotte Observer. Charlotte Observer’s PTL Investigation
Bakker resigned from PTL and asked televangelist Jerry Falwell to take over. Falwell found the ministry losing roughly $2 million a month and eventually pushed the Bakkers out entirely.1ABC News. The Scandals That Brought Down the Bakkers On June 12, 1987, PTL filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Columbia, South Carolina, reporting $72 million in debts.3New York Times. PTL Asks Court for Protection From Creditors
Federal Fraud Trial and Prison
On October 4, 1988, a federal grand jury indicted Bakker on 24 counts: eight of mail fraud, fifteen of wire fraud, and one of conspiracy.5History.com. Jim Bakker Is Indicted on Federal Charges The theory was straightforward: he had oversold the lifetime partnerships and misused what donors had given for Heritage USA.
The trial was held in federal court in Charlotte, North Carolina, before Judge Robert Potter. On October 5, 1989, the jury convicted Bakker on every count. Potter sentenced him to 45 years in prison and a $500,000 fine.1ABC News. The Scandals That Brought Down the Bakkers Richard Dortch, PTL’s executive vice president, pleaded guilty to four reduced counts and testified against Bakker.6Washington Post. Top PTL Aide Pleads Guilty to Fraud
In February 1991, the Fourth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the conviction but threw out the sentence, finding that Potter had made “intemperate” remarks at sentencing about “money-grubbing preachers.”7Washington Post. Jim Bakker Given Reduced Sentence On August 23, 1991, U.S. District Judge Graham Mullen resentenced him to 18 years, leaving the $500,000 fine in place.8Los Angeles Times. Jim Bakker Resentenced to 18 Years
Bakker served his time at the minimum-security federal prison in Jesup, Georgia. On July 1, 1994, he was moved to a Salvation Army halfway house in Asheville, North Carolina, to finish the last six months.9New York Times. Jim Bakker Freed From Jail to Stay in a Halfway House Federal officials said he could be fully released by December 1, 1994, if he followed the rules.10UPI. Bakker Transferred to Halfway House In all, he served nearly five years. While he was still incarcerated, Tammy Faye was granted a divorce on March 13, 1992, ending a marriage that had begun in 1961.11Los Angeles Times. Tammy Faye Bakker Granted Divorce
What Became of Heritage USA
Heritage USA never recovered. A $65 million sale collapsed in 1989 over a title dispute involving a claim by the Catawba Indian nation, and control returned to the bankruptcy court.12Washington Post. Heritage USA Deal Crumbles In 1990, evangelist Morris Cerullo and a group of Malaysian businessmen bought the property for $42.5 million. The resort briefly reopened under new names, and the hotel closed for good in 1997. Parts of the site changed hands repeatedly afterward, including a 52-acre parcel later purchased by MorningStar Ministries, which agreed in a 2024 settlement to demolish an unfinished 21-story tower Bakker had never completed.13Herald Online. Heritage USA Property History
The Morningside Ministry
Bakker published I Was Wrong in 1996 and married Lori Bakker, a youth minister, in 1998. By 2003 he was back on television with The Jim Bakker Show, first from studios near Branson, Missouri. In 2008 the operation moved to a compound called Morningside in Blue Eye, Missouri, where it has broadcast since.14Religion Unplugged. Jim and Lori Bakker Ministry Timeline
Morningside includes a television studio, a chapel, retail shops, and housing units sold as condos and timeshares. A former band director who worked at the compound said the show leans heavily on apocalyptic themes to market emergency supplies, mainly large buckets of freeze-dried survival food, and that some buyers have arrived with semi-truck trailers to haul away thousands of buckets at a time. He also said some followers had put life savings into Morningside housing and felt financially trapped by it.15Religion Unplugged. Jim Bakker Former Band Director Speaks Out
The COVID-19 Silver Solution Case
In early 2020, Bakker’s show promoted a product called Silver Solution as a treatment for COVID-19. A guest on the broadcast claimed it had been proven to eliminate other strains of coronavirus within 12 hours and to kill “every pathogen it has ever been tested on,” and viewers were told to use it in a nebulizer.16FDA. Warning Letter to The Jim Bakker Show
Regulators moved quickly. The New York Attorney General’s office sent a cease-and-desist letter on March 3, 2020. On March 6, the FDA and FTC jointly issued a warning letter classifying the silver products as unapproved new drugs and misbranded drugs.16FDA. Warning Letter to The Jim Bakker Show On March 10, Missouri sued Bakker and his production company, Morningside Church Productions Inc., for violating state consumer protection law.17NPR. Missouri Sues Televangelist Jim Bakker for Selling Fake Coronavirus Cure
On June 22, 2021, Stone County Circuit Court Judge Alan Blankenship signed a consent judgment requiring Bakker and Morningside Church to pay $156,000 in restitution to consumers who had bought the product. The order permanently bars them from selling or advertising Silver Solution as anything that can diagnose, prevent, treat, or cure disease. Bakker and his organization denied wrongdoing as part of the agreement.18Courthouse News Service. Televangelist to Pay $156,000 to Settle Case Over Fake COVID Cure
Where Things Stand Now
The Jim Bakker Show is still on the air. As of 2026, it continues to tape at Morningside Studios near Blue Eye, Missouri, with a live taping schedule posted through at least mid-2026.19The Jim Bakker Show. Morningside Studios Live Taping Schedule Episodes stream on the PTL Television Network platform, and Bakker and Lori remain based at the Morningside compound alongside the studio, housing community, and retail operations.20The Jim Bakker Show. The Jim Bakker Show Homepage