Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker has been hit with two separate lawsuits, by the states of Missouri and Arkansas, over his alleged promotion of a product that he claimed could cure coronavirus.
Arkansas Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed the suit Tuesday against Bakker and Morningside Church Productions. This comes less than three months after the state of Missouri also filed a similar suit. Court documents filed by Rutledge, claim that 385 people purchased colloidal silver, a product often sold on the internet as a dietary supplement, from Bakker’s company. According to CBS, the liquid solution is often falsely advertised as a “cure-all” that boosts the immune system and can “kill every pathogen it has ever been tested on.” Bakker’s company pulled in an approximate $60K from Arkansas sales alone. “Jim Bakker has exploited Arkansas consumers by leveraging COVID-19 fears to sell over $60,000 worth of their products that do nothing to fight the virus,” Rutledge said in a statement.
Federal regulators sent letters to Bakker and other companies selling soaps, sprays and other elixirs, advertised as a treatment or cure for the coronavirus. But now, Bakker denies all wrongdoing. In fact, he has asked a judge to drop the new case. Jay Nixon, Bakker’s attorney, says that Rutledge’s lawsuit was filed in response to the pastor attempting to prevent her from obtaining personal information about his congregation members, as part of her investigation. Nixon also claims that his client never said the product treated or cured COVID-19.
