Televangelist and doomsday prepper Jim Bakker and his Missouri ministry have been ordered by a court to pay restitution of $156,000 to settle a lawsuit that said Bakker was hawking bogus cures for COVID-19, the Associated Press reports.
The settlement calls for Bakker to refund people who gave him money to obtain a product known as “Silver Solution” in the early days of the pandemic. Bakker also claimed the product could cure STDs and HIV.
The settlement also bans Bakker and his ministry from selling Silver Solution “to diagnose, prevent, mitigate, treat or cure any disease or illness.” According to the AP, Bakker did not admit to any wrongdoing in the settlement.
From the AP:
Republican Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt sued Bakker and Morningside in March 2020. Schmitt sought an injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for COVID-19 on his streaming TV program, The Jim Bakker Show. The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during 11 episodes in February and March of 2020.
Bakker’s attorneys released a statement saying that the televangelist and host of The Jim Bakker Show is happy to put the matter behind him so he can “continue the important work of Morningside Church.” The attorneys added that the settlement includes “no findings whatsoever that our clients violated any laws or misled” consumers.
