Miracle Spring Water Lawsuit: Ofcom Fines and Why No US Case

There is no known Miracle Spring Water lawsuit that has produced a court ruling against Peter Popoff in the United States. No class action, personal-injury case, or federal enforcement action tied to the product appears in the public record. The most significant legal consequences have come from the United Kingdom, where the broadcasting regulator Ofcom has fined the channel that aired Popoff’s program more than £525,000 for the health and financial claims made on air.¹²

Those fines targeted the broadcaster, not Popoff or his ministry directly. That distinction matters if you are looking for a court case you can point to, or a judgment that returned money to donors. Nothing like that exists.

The Ofcom Fines Are the Closest Thing

Popoff’s program aired in the UK on The Word Network, a US-based religious channel that held a UK broadcasting license. Ofcom investigated multiple episodes of Peter Popoff Ministries and found they made unsubstantiated health and financial claims with the “potential to cause harm.”¹

In March 2025, Ofcom fined the Word Network Operating Company Inc. £150,000 (roughly $194,000) over two episodes from May 2023. The episodes featured testimonies claiming the water cured lung cancer, diabetes, intestinal disease, and drug addiction, and that it produced financial windfalls including $64,000 in unexpected money and student loan forgiveness. Ofcom called the broadcasts “a particularly serious failure of compliance.”¹ The channel’s parent company then agreed to stop airing Peter Popoff Ministries in the UK.³

In December 2025, Ofcom returned with a larger set of penalties totaling £375,000 against the same broadcaster:

£50,000 for an episode of Stem Cell Activators aired July 24, 2023, that made unsubstantiated claims about treating serious medical conditions with unlicensed products.
£150,000 for four episodes of Peter Popoff Ministries broadcast in December 2023.
£175,000 for an episode of Peter Popoff Ministries broadcast in May 2024.

Ofcom called the breaches “serious, repeated and reckless” and said the network “failed to adequately protect viewers from harm.” The fines were ordered paid to HM Treasury.² Ofcom also banned rebroadcasting of the cited episodes and required the channel to air a statement acknowledging the findings.⁴ As of late 2025, the Word Network’s UK license had not been formally revoked.⁵

Documented Harm Without a Court Case

Individual donors have described significant financial losses without any of it turning into litigation. Janet Morgano, a single mother from Boynton Beach, Florida, sent over $300 to Popoff’s ministry in late 2010 after receiving mailings promising “supernatural debt cancellation.” She was struggling to pay bills after a car accident when the ministry asked her for $1,001. “I felt foolish, I felt betrayed, I was very upset,” she told reporters.⁶

Others have described similar experiences on web forums, including one person whose father sent $1,000 to Popoff and another who wrote, “Desperate for support from the high, I went along with it because I so badly wanted answers.” According to multiple accounts, refund requests go unanswered.⁷

The Trinity Foundation, a Dallas-based organization that has investigated televangelists since 1987, has tracked Popoff for years. Its founder, Ole Anthony, described the frustration: “We’ve done so many stories about him, but it never does any good.”⁶ Popoff Ministries is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau, carries a C rating, and has unresolved complaints on file.⁸

Why No US Lawsuit Has Been Brought

Given the scale of the operation and the volume of complaints, the absence of a major US suit or federal enforcement action is striking. As far back as 1986, observers noted that agencies like the FTC, FCC, and Department of Justice had been reluctant to investigate faith healers, largely because of concerns about the separation of church and state and the legal protections afforded to religious organizations. No FTC action or postal fraud prosecution related to the spring water mailings appears in the public record.

Popoff’s ministry structure adds another layer of difficulty for anyone considering litigation. In 2006, his organization merged with a small storefront church in Texas called Word for the World. According to a GQ investigation, that reorganization changed the ministry’s classification so it was no longer required to publicly disclose annual income or salaries to the IRS.⁹ The last publicly available Form 990, from 2005, showed People United for Christ brought in $23.6 million in total revenue, nearly all of it from direct public contributions.¹⁰ After that, the paper trail thins.

The product itself is also positioned in a way that complicates a consumer-protection theory. Popoff’s website continues to promote the Miracle Spring Water but carries a prominent disclaimer: “Do not ingest the miracle spring water.”¹¹ The healing and financial promises are made through testimonies and mailings framed in religious language rather than as product claims, which is part of why Ofcom, a broadcasting regulator with a code covering harm and unsubstantiated health claims, has been the venue where legal consequences actually landed.

What the Ministry Still Does Today

The Ofcom fines have not shut down the operation. As of 2026, Peter Popoff Ministries remains active. Its website continues to offer Miracle Spring Water, solicit prayer requests, and broadcast weekly telecasts.¹¹ Mailings tied to the water have historically escalated in frequency and dollar amount, with early requests around $24 and later ones pushing for $1,000 or more, with language suggesting that failing to donate will block the recipient’s blessings.⁷

If you or a family member has sent money in response to those mailings, there is no active class action to join and no settlement fund to claim from. Complaints can be filed with the Better Business Bureau, state attorney general consumer protection divisions, and the US Postal Inspection Service for mail-based solicitations, but none of these routes has, to date, produced a public recovery for donors.

1
The Guardian. Miracle Spring Water: Ofcom Fines Word Network
2
Wired-Gov. Ofcom Fines the Word Network £375,000 for Breaking Broadcasting Rules
3
Church Leaders. Televangelist Fined Over Miracle Spring Water
4
Premier Christian News. Ofcom Issues Fines Over Televangelist Miracle Water
5
Ofcom. Decision: Word Network Operating Company – Peter Popoff Ministries
6
Business Insider. Scam Everlasting: After 25 Years, Debunked Faith Healer Still Preaching
7
Jeff Belanger. Profit: Peter Popoff’s Fleecing of the Foolish
8
Better Business Bureau. Peter Popoff Ministries BBB Profile
9
GQ. Peter Popoff Born Again Scoundrel
10
People United for Christ, Inc. IRS Form 990 Filing
11
Peter Popoff Ministries. Peter Popoff Ministries Official Site