Jim Bakker, who lost his ‘PTL Club’ televangelism empire in sex and money scandals, dies at 86

Jim Bakker, who along with his first-wife Tammy Faye built an evangelical empire around the hugely successful “The PTL Club” TV show, only to lose it all over a sex scandal and financial crimes, has died. He was 86. His second wife, Lori Bakker, said in a statement that Bakker died Monday. His cause of death was not immediately clear. The pair lived near the Missouri entertainment town of Branson and filmed their TV show “The Jim Bakker Show” there since it launched in 2003. Bakker suffered a stroke in 2020.