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US televangelist Jim Bakker dies at 86 following scandal and fraud
Key Takeaways
- Jim Bakker died at age 86, according to an announcement by his second wife Lori.
- He and his first wife Tammy Faye co-founded the immensely popular PTL Club in 1974.
- His empire collapsed in 1987 after a sex scandal and subsequent conviction for fraud and conspiracy.
- Bakker served over four years in prison before returning to TV ministry in 2003 with Lori.
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US televangelist Jim Bakker has died at the age of 86, as announced by his second wife, Lori Bakker. Bakker rose to fame co-founding The PTL Club with his first wife, Tammy Faye, creating a multimillion-dollar Christian television network and the Heritage USA theme park.
His career unraveled in the late 1980s due to a sex scandal involving hush money and subsequent convictions on 24 counts of mail and wire fraud and conspiracy, resulting in a prison sentence of over four years. After his release, he remarried and returned to television ministry with his second wife.
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