Money Crimes with Nicole Lapin - CELEBRITY: Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker

Episode Date: October 24, 2024

In the 1980s, Jim and Tammy Faye Bakkers' televised sermons dominated the airwaves. Their impassioned pleas for donations convinced their followers to send them millions of dollars. But that money wasn't going to their ministry -- it was going straight into Jim and Tammy Faye's pockets. Money Crimes is a Crime House Original. For more content, follow us on Instagram and TikTok @crimehouse. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This is Crime House. In the 1970s, television became more than just entertainment and news. It was a business model. With variety shows and live TV dominating the airwaves, there were more opportunities than ever to make money in the media. And entrepreneurial minds around the country were ready to take full advantage of all these new eyeballs. But few were more successful than televangelist Jim Baker. Jim and his wife Tammy Faye were masters of the telethon. Through their impassioned pleas for donations, they raked in millions of dollars for their ministry. In reality, their devoted audience was bankrolling the Baker's lavish lifestyle. And by the time

their loyal followers caught on to what was happening, it was already too late. As the saying goes, those who don't understand history are doomed to repeat it. That's especially true when it comes to money. If you want to make the right decisions when it comes to managing your assets, you need to know what mistakes to avoid and how to spot a trap. This is Money Crimes, a Crime House original. I'm your host Nicole Lapin. Every Thursday I'll be telling you a story of a famous financial crime and giving you advice on how to avoid becoming a victim yourself.

This episode is about husband and wife televangelists Jim and Tammy Faye Baker. In the 1970s and 80s, they hosted the Christian TV program, the PTL club. While their rise to fame was an inspiration to many, their fall from grace was a masterclass in financial mismanagement and fraud. Today, I'll introduce you to Jim and Tammy Faye and their TV empire. I'll examine how they gained an army of followers, how their supporters financed Jim's wildest ideas, and how the Bakers' financial crimes caused their fantasy world to ultimately crash and burn. Kicking off an exciting football season with Bet MGM,

an official sportsbook partner of the National Football League. Yard after yard, down after down, the sportsbook Born in Vegas gives you the chance to take action to the end zone and celebrate every highlight real play. And as an official sportsbook partner of the NFL, BedMGM is the best place to fuel your football fandom on every game day. With a variety of exciting features, BedMGM offers you plenty of seamless ways

to jump straight onto the gridiron and to embrace peak sports action. Ready for another season of gridiron glory? What are you waiting for? Get off the bench, into the huddle, and head for the end zone all season long. Visit betmgm.com for terms and conditions. Must be 19 years of age or older.

Ontario only. Please gamble responsibly. Gambling problem? For free assistance, call the Conax Ontario Helpline at 1-866-531-2600. That MGM operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. I am so dreading groceries this week. Why? You can skip it.

Oh, what, just like that? Just like that. How about dinner with my third cousin? Skip it.uffy's favorite treats skippable midnight snacks skip my neighbors nightly saxophone practices Nope, you're on your own there Could have skipped it should have skipped it skip to the good part and get groceries meals and more delivered right to your door on skip part and get groceries, meals, and more delivered right to your door on skip. Before Jim and Tammy Faye Baker were famous TV personalities, they were just two kids who loved God. In 1960, Jim and Tammy Faye met while they were studying at North Central Bible College in

Minneapolis, Minnesota. They bonded over their midwestern Pentecostal backgrounds and they shared a love of performing. It wasn't long before they started dating. Right away, Jim knew that Tammy Faye was the woman for him. He proposed to her after just three dates, and she said yes. But the university didn't allow students to marry during the school year. So Jim and Tammy Fay did what any couple who was head over heels in love would do. They dropped out and got hitched.

Although the couple had small town roots, they had big time dreams. The bakers wanted to spread the word of God around the country. So in the fall of 1961, the newlyweds packed their bags and hit the road. For the next few years, they traveled to a circuit of churches in the Bible Belt,

preaching to small congregations. By 1963, the bakers were looking for a way to spice up their sermons. Tammy Fay was a talented puppeteer, so they added a Christian children's puppet show to their repertoire. It was an instant hit, and before long a local TV station in Charlotte, North Carolina picked it up. In 1965, the show caught the attention of a televangelist named Pat Robertson. Five years earlier, Robertson had started the Virginia-based Christian Broadcasting Network,

and he was still looking to make CBN a household name. But he was having trouble finding an audience. He decided to take a chance on the Bakers and brought them in to host their own kids show. The show took off right away, but the network still needed money to stay afloat. So in November 1965, CBN hosted a telethon to raise $120,000. But as the minutes ticked by, it seemed like the network was going to fall short of its goal. Jim knew he needed a Hail Mary. On the last night of the telethon, he broke down in tears on air. He begged the audience to help them save Christian television. And it worked.

Thanks to Jim's heartfelt plea, the telethon raised enough money to pay off all the network's debt and fund operations for an entire year. Riding high on the fundraiser's success, Jim worked up the courage to pitch Robertson a big idea – a Christian version of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson. After what Jim had done to save CBN, Robertson gave it the green light. The show propelled CBN to national fame and led to the creation of The 700 Club, a nightly two-hour Christian variety program that featured live music, preaching, prayer, Bible study, interviews, and calls for donations. The 700 Club is still on the air and reigns supreme as CBN's flagship

program. Back in 1966, Pat Robertson and Jim Baker shared hosting duties, but it didn't take long for Jim to shoot past his boss in viewership numbers. And it totally went to his head. Jim was the creator and mastermind behind the show, and he reportedly wanted everyone at the network to treat him accordingly.

But not everyone at CBN agreed. Behind the scenes, Jim's growing ego started to rub people the wrong way. Things only got more strained when the network decided to embrace the counterculture era that was sweeping the nation. And that did not align with the Baker's values. The Bakers wanted to keep the network 100% Christian. But despite their protests, CBN changed its program philosophy anyway. The bakers, especially Jim, felt unheard and underappreciated. So in 1972, they resigned from the network. After a quick pit stop in California, they decided to head back to the place where they had started their careers. In January 1974, Jim and Tammy Fay rejoined

the local TV station in Charlotte, North Carolina, where they had worked in the early 60s. The station needed help running their telethon, and Jim was clearly the man for the job. And this time, he got the appreciation that he thought he deserved. As the bakers pulled up to the set for their first telethon for the station, they were greeted by a crowd of more than 2,000 adoring fans. Jim and Tammy Faye had no idea that their days as Bible Belt Evangelists had made such an impact. It was a breath of fresh air for the couple. They were finally feeling the love they always wanted to have at CBN.

Sensing an opportunity, they decided to move to Charlotte full-time and start their own television ministry, aka marketing religious messages through TV. Over the next two years, the Bakers brought in past callings and called in old favors to help create the PTL television network. PTL stood for Praise the Lord and People That Love. And boy did viewers love it. The PTL Club, the network's flagship show, was broadcast five days a week in front of a live studio audience. Similar to the 700 Club, the show was a Christian variety program that preached faith and the abundant life.

It was unscripted, relying heavily on Jim's spontaneity. For viewers, the club became a community and the hosts, their family. On air, PTL was thriving and the donations were rolling in. But off the air, the network was struggling to make ends meet. In order to get PTL off the ground, the bakers had gone into debt with the local TV station that aired the show. And they were having a hard time paying it off. Jim had 30 days to pay up, and he told his vice president, Jim Moss, to write a check to the station for $20,000.

The only issue was they didn't have the money. Moss tried to talk Jim out of writing a bad check, but Jim was confident that the Lord had his back. That following Monday, $30,000 arrived in the mail from the telethon that they had hosted in Ohio. In Jim's eyes, this was all the proof he needed that he'd been right. The Lord provided. By January 1976, two years after starting PTL, they had over 60 employees and were rapidly

expanding their network of affiliate stations that aired PTL programming. The growing ministry relied on telethons to raise money, and by 1976, they were holding as many as four telethons a week. Their goal was to get 2,000 people to give at least $10 a month to support broadcast costs. Their generous supporters opened their hearts and their checkbooks. Seems kind of fishy, doesn't it? But were the bakers actually doing anything wrong here? Not really. It's perfectly legal to solicit donations like this, and giving money to your favorite nonprofit or religious organization can have financial benefits. If you itemize deductions on your tax returns, charitable donations can help lower your taxable income. But before doling out cash in your name, you'll want to do some research

to ensure three things. First, the charity you're donating to is financially healthy. All nonprofits with gross receipts above $50,000 are required to file with the IRS. Second, check that your contributions qualify for yearly deductions. You can do that by using a tool on the IRS website to check an organization's tax status.

And third, make sure the charity you're choosing donates their proceeds in a way that leads to positive results. You can use the website GuideStar to vet any nonprofits you might be interested in donating to. When it came to PTL, the bakers relied almost exclusively on donations from their followers.

Jim saw just how well their telethons worked, and it got him thinking about how to maximize the network's fundraising capabilities. He realized a way to do that was to expand their reach. In the mid-1970s, PTL got a satellite network license. With satellite TV, you weren't limited to broadcasting in areas with cable infrastructure. You could be accessed anywhere in the world. It was a smart idea, and before long, PTL was making waves, and Jim and Tammy Faye were becoming full-on celebrities.

That wasn't enough for Jim, though. By the end of 1977, he was laying the groundwork for his most ambitious project yet – a giant theme park with its own resort and ministry center. In short, he wanted to build the king of online casinos. Enjoy casino games at your fingertips with the same Vegas-strip excitement MGM is famous for when you play classics like MGM Grand Millions or popular games like Blackjack, Baccarat, and Roulette. Download the BenMGM Casino app today. BenMGM and GameSense remind you to play responsibly. BenMGM.com for T's and C's, 19 plus to wager, Ontario only. Please play responsibly. If you have questions or concerns about gambling or someone close to you,

please contact Connx Ontario at 1-866-51-2600 to speak to an advisor free of charge. Bidem Gym operates pursuant to an operating agreement with iGaming Ontario. By the end of 1977, Jim and Tammy Faye Baker were on Cloud Nine. Their Christian variety show, Praise the Lord Club, was being broadcast around the world and they were soaking up every second of the spotlight. With everything going their way, 37-year-old Jim was ready to enter the next phase of his grand plan, supersizing PTL and creating a one-stop shop

that combined worship and experiential entertainment. In 1978, PTL bought a 1,200-acre wooded plot straddling the border of North and South Carolina. It would be PTL's new headquarters and the site of the Christian theme park Jim was so desperate to create. In January of that year, Jim broke ground on what he was calling Heritage USA. Their first project was the Total Living Center. Jim wanted to include a university, a campground, and a school. The estimated construction costs were a whopping $100 million. At the

time, PTL was making about $48 million a year. It was a lot of money, but not nearly enough to finance the total living center. PTL's VP Jim, begged Jim Baker to postpone construction a year or two to spread out the burden. But Jim had a vision, and he wasn't about to hit pause on it. So PTL went ahead and started building the center anyway. Just a few months later, in June, 1978, the board of directors called a meeting.

Unsurprisingly, PTL's finances were going down the drain. But no one mentioned the mounting construction debt. In fact, the board signed off on raises for Jim Baker, Jim Moss, and other PTL execs. Jim's only cost-cutting idea was to lay off 100 of the 690 employees. To get PTL on track, Jim went back to what he did best – begging for money. On air, he told his viewers that the ministry was $2.5 million in debt. He claimed that he and Tammy Faye had poured their life savings into the network. Now he needed help from their members because he said the banks weren't helping them. Whenever Jim went on air, he'd complain that the ministry couldn't get loans because

banks refused to loan money to religious groups. His followers accepted this explanation. No questions asked and just kept sending in the cash. It worked for a while, but by late 1978, PTL debt had ballooned to over $13 million. PTL leadership knew there was no coming back from that, and they decided to save themselves. Nearly all of Jim's inner circle left the ministry they helped build.

But the mass exodus only made Jim more determined to succeed. If he had learned anything from all of his years of prayer, it was that it was better to stand alone in righteousness than to follow the crowd. Now, alone at the top, Jim wanted to ensure it stayed that way. He called a board meeting with the remaining executives and revised the organization's bylaws.

He appointed himself president, CEO, and general manager of PTL for life. Without any checks and balances in place, financial misconduct ran rampant at PTL. Employees were now allegedly taking money from the donation pile, and one of the biggest benefactors was none other than 36-year-old Tammy Fay. She regularly used donation money to go shopping, buying herself expensive jewelry and multiple pairs of designer shoes at a time. That same year, the bakers used donation money

for a down payment on a luxury houseboat. And that definitely was not legal. The Federal Communications Commission, or FCC, allows media organizations to request contributions to meet their operating expenses. But they don't allow organizations to raise money through on-air telethons for one purpose and then spend it on something else entirely. So no, the Baker's Luxury Houseboat and Tammy Faye's designer shoes definitely didn't

meet those requirements. And in March of 1979, news broke that the FCC was launching an investigation into PTL. Ultimately, the FCC concluded that the organization did misuse funds and forwarded their findings to the Justice Department. But for the moment, the bakers and PTL were safe. The government held off filing charges, saying they didn't have enough evidence. Jim used the lull in the investigation to go on the offensive. On air, he called the FCC liars and enemies of the ministry. He even compared them to Hitler and Communist Russia. He told his followers this was a case of good versus evil. And the people listened.

By the end of 1979, the ministry's contributions had doubled from the year before. Jim took it as a sign from God and quickly resumed construction on Heritage USA. In September 1980, 40,000 people turned out to celebrate the opening of The Barn, a 3,000-seat auditorium on ministry grounds. The building, which cost $2 million, allowed PTL to finally start a physical church, something they'd never had before. People were eager to visit, and the church eventually attracted 200,000 visitors a year, making it one of the leading tourist attractions in the Carolinas. After nearly three years at 40 years old, Jim's vision was truly becoming a reality.

But that success wasn't making him happy. The ministry's finances, the FCC investigation, the negativity in the press, it all started to weigh on him. Tragically, he found an outlet for his anger when he met 21-year-old Jessica Hahn. Jessica was a secretary for another ministry in New York, and she was a huge fan of Jim. She'd watch him on TV nearly every day before she went to work. And in 1980, she was introduced to him through a mutual friend.

When Jim asked her to fly to Tampa, Florida to babysit his and Tammy Faye's daughter, Jessica eagerly hopped on a plane. But when she stepped foot in the hotel room, his daughter wasn't anywhere to be seen, and neither was Tammy Faye. Jim had asked Jessica there under false pretenses, and when he had her alone, he sexually assaulted her. Two days later, Jim called Jessica to apologize. It seemed like she wanted to forgive and forget, but it's hard to move on from such a traumatic experience, especially because Jessica worshiped Jim

and he took advantage of her loyalty. And even worse, he didn't seem to be remorseful about it at all. By the time he was back in the Carolinas, he'd already moved on and was ready to get back to the ministry. With construction on Heritage USA ramping up, Jim decided it was time to find a new, more loyal,

inner circle to join PTL. He invited Richard Dortch, a big-time pastor from Illinois, to be his executive vice president. A guy named David Taggart was recruited to be Jim's personal assistant, and David's brother James came on board as well. Now that Jim had a new inner circle of yes men, he gave himself an even bigger raise. Two years earlier, Jim's salary was about $24,000.

Now it got bumped to just over $100,000. It seemed like everything was coming up roses for Jim. He had no idea his past was about to come back and haunt him. As Richard Dortch would later testify, he got a call from an unknown number sometime in 1983. So this was a few months after he joined PTL. The caller was a woman and she sounded angry. She said her name was Jessica Hahn.

She wanted Jim Baker to apologize for sexually assaulting her. When Dortch asked Jim about it, he acknowledged they had a sexual encounter, but he denied that any assault had taken place. Still, Dortch knew he needed to keep Jessica quiet, where the fate of PTL would be on the line. Representatives from both sides met

and agreed to a $265,000 settlement. The money came directly from PTL. In exchange, Jessica agreed not to go public with her accusations against Jim. For Jim, this was just another obstacle on the way to fulfilling his dreams. For Jessica, it was an awful experience that probably left her feeling traumatized and broken. It looked like Jim could get away with just about anything and his followers would unknowingly foot the bill. And even though it seemed like Jim had paid for all of his problems to go away, there was another storm brewing on

the horizon. The number of tourists visiting Heritage USA was at an all-time high, but there weren't enough places for them to stay. To make room for more guests, Jim wanted to build the 500-room Heritage Grand Hotel at a price tag of $25 million dollars. Money that PTL didn't have. So Jim came up with something called the Lifetime Partnership Program. PTL would offer 25,000 lifetime partnerships with the Heritage Grand Hotel at a thousand dollars each. That would get each partner a yearly four-day, three-night stay at the hotel for life. Think of it like paying for your vacations at once.

On paper, the partnerships were supposed to generate the $25 million needed to pay for the hotel. In reality, this didn't take into account any of PTL's already existing debt. The ministry's lawyers advised Jim to put the program on pause, but he and Richard Dortch just plowed full steam ahead. They'd already begun construction on the Grand Hotel, and in their eyes, the Lifetime Partnership Program was the only way to pay for it. Jim started promoting the partnerships on air in February, 1984. By then, PTL had $8 million in assets and almost $20 million in debts

with more on the way from building the hotel. Jim wasn't concerned about the numbers though. He'd managed to avoid one disaster after another. And in his mind, life was better than ever. But his judgment day was approaching fast. By July 1984, the Lifetime Partnership program was up and running. By some miracle, 44-year-old Jim Baker had managed to generate the $25 million needed to cover the costs of the Heritage Grand Hotel.

But during construction, that price had ballooned to $35 million. As if that wasn't enough, Jim used half of the proceeds from the partnership program to pay off PTL's debts. Oh, and to build the largest water park in the country, creating a whole new boatload of debt for PTL to deal with. But Jim was nothing if not creative. With the hotel nowhere near finished, Jim urged his supporters to take advantage of the lifetime partnerships that were still available. There was just one problem with that, though. The original 25,000 partnerships were already

claimed and paid in full. So Jim decided to start construction on a second hotel, Heritage Grand Towers, where he offered the same lifetime partnership program. But local reporters were starting to get suspicious about PTL. They looked into the ministry's finances and learned PTL was in a ton of debt. If the ministry didn't survive, the people who bought the lifetime partnerships

might never even get to use them. Newspapers started reporting on PTL and Jim's finances, which only led Jim to become more secretive. To keep the press from finding out more, PTL's executive vice president Richard Dortch suggested senior staff salaries be hidden behind the executive payroll account. Back in 1984, companies weren't required to publicize their executive payroll accounts. That meant their salaries were completely hidden from the public. For public companies, that made it much harder for investors to properly gauge whether it was worth putting their money into it.

And for nonprofits like PTO, it was hard to tell how they were allocating their funds. Thankfully, the law changed in 2006 for public companies and in 2008 for nonprofits. Nowadays, if you're looking to invest or to donate, you have a lot more information available to you. So while Dortch wasn't doing anything illegal at the time, he was trying to hide how much PTL execs were actually making. He quickly put his family on the executive payroll account, which allowed them to access PTL money whenever they wanted. And David and James Tagger treated their friends and family to high-end meals and lavish overseas trips,

all on the company's dime. See, PTL's ethos was that God blessed those who had faith in him, and Jim and Tammy Faye were living proof of that. They put their extravagant lifestyle on full display, hoping their followers would be inspired to live a godly life themselves. Or at least, that was their excuse for it. But their supporters weren't the only ones watching. So was the IRS. That year in 1985, the IRS sent PTL

a proposed letter of revocation, the first step in stripping a ministry of their tax exempt status. If the IRS succeeded, it would crush PTL financially by adding a bunch of taxes onto a boatload of already existing debt. But Jim had beaten the government before and he was determined to do it again.

Like he did with the FCC, Jim went on air and condemned the IRS, calling them an enemy of the ministry and a soldier of Satan. He reminded his followers that PTL didn't make deals with the devil. Confident that the PTL crew would have his back, even against the US government, Jim continued construction on Heritage USA.

In January of 1987, he unveiled his latest addition to the resort, the Crystal Palace Ministry. The 1.25 million square foot center would seat 30,000 people and have a counseling center, chapel, restaurant, and a 5,000 seat television studio. But the local papers were still on PTL's tail. One reporter, Charlie Shepard, had been investigating the financial legitimacy of PTL for the past

decade. He was determined to expose the bakers and the ministry. And he found the one person who could help him get the job done. Jessica Hahn. A few years earlier, Shepard had spoken to Jessica about her encounter with Jim. And now, he had asked her if she would be willing to break her NDA. She said yes. But before Shepard did anything, he reached out to anyone who might be able to corroborate Jessica's story. Several former PTL employees came forward in her support. Before publishing his story, Shepard reached out to Jim for comment. A month later, in March of 1987, Jim contacted Shepard. Jim asked the reporter to print an official statement on his behalf. Jim was resigning from PTL, effective immediately.

He also denied any sexual assault allegations made by Jessica or anyone else. But it was easy to read between the lines here. It seemed like Jim knew it was just a matter of time until his empire came toppling down. He was right. In December of 1987, the IRS concluded their investigation. They filed a $55.7 million claim against PTL, revoking their tax-exempt status and nearly doubling the $60 million the ministry already owed to creditors. To put a nail in the coffin, Charlie Shepard's story led to a 16-month-long grand jury investigation into PTL. Over 100 witnesses were called,

including Jessica Hahn and countless PTL executives. Not only did the cover-up and money settlement become public, so did the fact that the Baker's extravagant lifestyle was paid for by PTL donations. In December of 1988, Jim Baker, Richard Dortch, and the Taggart brothers were indicted. Jim was charged with eight counts of mail fraud, 15 counts of wire fraud, and one count of conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. The jury found Jim guilty on all counts. He was sentenced to 45 years in prison and fined $500,000.

In March of 1992, Tammy Faye announced she was divorcing Jim. After serving less than five years, Jim was released on parole in 1994. Always one with the times, Jim has now traded the abundant life for the apocalyptic one, helping his followers prepare for doomsday. Specifically, an impending food shortage that he thinks is coming. At one point, you could buy your own 50 day freeze dried food sampler on his website. The reviews are not great,

but according to now 84 year old Jim, at least you can have parties when the world is falling apart. And he will be laughing all the way to the bank. That's it for today's show. But before I go, I wanted to leave you with this final thought. Jim Baker was a wolf in sheep's clothing.

He deceived his followers into donating under false pretenses and used their money to fund his wildest dreams. To avoid falling into the same kind of trap, please research who and what you're giving your money to when you donate. A popular website, CharityNavigator.org, allows you to find charities aligned with your own individual passions and values.

Plus, it provides insight into each nonprofit's finances and spending habits. And remember, no matter how reputable a nonprofit seems, only give what you can afford. Philanthropy can definitely make us feel good and it provides a sense of community. But like anything when it comes to money, always proceed with caution. Thank you so much for listening. I'm your host, Nicole Lapin.

Come back next time as I take you through another wild story and offer you some advice along the way. Money Crimes is a Crime House original powered by PAVE Studios. Join me every Thursday for a new episode. Here at Crime House, we want to thank each and every one of you for your support. If you like what you heard today, reach out on social media at Crime House on Instagram and TikTok and at Crime House Media on X. Don't forget to rate, review and follow Money Crimes wherever you get your favorite podcasts. Your feedback truly makes

all the difference. Money Crimes is hosted by me, Nicole Lapin, and is a CrimeHouse original powered by Pave Studios. It is executive produced by Max Cutler. This episode of Money Crimes was produced and directed by Ron Shapiro, written by Tanner Marcusello, edited by Natalie Persovsky, fact-checked by Sarah Tardiff, sound designed by Russell Nash, and production assistance by Sarah Carroll.