Last week, New York Attorney General Letitia James sent a letter to televangelist Jim Bakker, demanding that he stop selling his “Silver Solution” because his show was falsely referring to it as a cure for coronavirus.

The Jim Bakker Show is suggesting that the silver solution it sells can kill the coronavirus within 12 hours. pic.twitter.com/kbUGnUp69m — Right Wing Watch (@RightWingWatch) February 12, 2020

It wasn’t his only claim. Bakker said the product could get rid of “all venereal diseases” and prevent SARS and HIV. He also said the silver is “almost like a miracle” and that “God created it in Heaven.”

But the coronavirus claim is what’s receiving national attention for obvious reasons. (Christians lying isn’t exactly news these days.)

A day after James sent her letter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission did the same thing, giving Bakker 48 hours to make things right before they came after him.

Now things are getting worse.

Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt has now sued Bakker’s ministry for lying about the effectiveness of “Silver Solution” as a “treatment for 2019 novel coronavirus (COVID-19).”

The lawsuit alleges that in a February 12, 2020 Jim Bakker Show production that aired nationwide, Bakker and guest Sherill Sellman, a “naturopathic doctor”, claimed that “Silver Solution” can cure coronavirus. … Anyone who has bought “Silver Solution” from the Jim Bakker Show should know that it cannot cure or treat coronavirus. The lawsuit filed this morning requests a restraining order and permanent injunction ordering Bakker to stop selling Silver Solution as a treatment for coronavirus.

The lawsuit itself is not publicly available yet.

It’s not clear how many episodes of his show were taped in advance, or how Bakker plans to “undo” his harmful claims, or if he’ll ever apologize for lying (ha!), but if he doesn’t fix his mistakes, he could face jail time for committing fraud.

It wouldn’t be the first time.

(via Right Wing Watch)

