March 19 1987

Televangelist fraud Jim Bakker resigns after revelations about porking Jessica Hahn and scamming his insanely credulous flock


"From 1984 to 1987, Bakker and his PTL associates sold $1,000 "lifetime memberships", which entitled buyers to a three-night stay annually at a luxury hotel at Heritage USA. According to the prosecution at Bakker's later fraud trial, tens of thousands of memberships had been sold, but only one 500-room hotel was ever completed. Bakker "sold" more "exclusive partnerships" than could be accommodated, while raising more than twice the money needed to build the actual hotel. A good deal of the money went into Heritage USA's operating expenses, and Bakker kept $3.4 million in bonuses for himself. A $279,000 payoff for the silence of Jessica Hahn, a staff secretary at the church, was paid with PTL's funds to Hahn through Bakker associate Roe Messner, who later married Tammy Fay Bakker."

Maybelline salvation