Arkansas AG sues TV pastor over virus treatment claims

Source: AP

By ANDREW DeMILLO

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (AP) — Arkansas’ attorney general on Tuesday sued Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker over his promotion of a product falsely touted as a cure for the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Attorney General Leslie Rutledge filed the lawsuit in Arkansas against Bakker and Morningside Church Productions, less than three months after the state of Missouri filed a similar lawsuit.

Rutledge’s lawsuit says 385 Arkansans made purchases from Bakker’s company totaling approximately $60,524 for colloidal silver, a product often sold on the internet as a dietary supplement.

“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 released by her office. The Republican attorney general added that her case was about consumer fraud, not freedom of religion.



FILE - In this March 19, 1987, file photo, Television evangelist Jim Bakker poses in Columbia, S.C. Missouri-based TV pastor Jim Bakker, in a court filing on Monday, May 4, 2020, is asking a judge to dismiss a state lawsuit accusing him of falsely claiming that a health supplement could cure the coronavirus. The lawsuit said Bakker and a guest made the cure claim during a program on Feb. 12. (AP Photo/Lou Krasky File)


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