A disgraced televangelist known for his rise to fame and subsequent fall from grace has died at 86. Once a prominent figure with a multimillion-dollar ministry and lavish lifestyle, he faced conviction for defrauding followers and served over four years in prison in the late 1980s. His downfall followed a high-profile sex scandal and divorce from his co-host, reshaping his public image from a charismatic preacher to a symbol of corruption. The news of his death was shared on social media by his second wife.
Bakker spent four and a half years in prison after being convicted in 1989 of defrauding followers in a scheme involving holidays at his Christian theme parkThe US televangelist Jim Bakker, who built a multimillion-dollar empire and lived in opulence before being disgraced by a sex scandal, a conviction for defrauding followers and divorce from his television co-host Tammy Faye, has died aged 86.The death of Bakker, whose journey from the TV pulpit to a prison cell in the 1980s inspired comparisons to the corrupt character of the fictional preacher-huckster Elmer Gantry, was revealed on social media by his second wife, Lori Bakker. Continue reading...
