US televangelist Jim Bakker, ensnared in fraud and sex scandal, dies at 86

Bakker spent four and a half years in prison after being convicted in 1989 of defrauding followers in a scheme involving holidays at his Christian theme park

The US televangelist Jim Bakker, who built a multimillion-dollar empire and lived in opulence before being disgraced by a sex scandal, a conviction for defrauding followers and divorce from his television co-host Tammy Faye, has died aged 86.

The death of Bakker, whose journey from the TV pulpit to a prison cell in the 1980s inspired comparisons to the corrupt character of the fictional preacher-huckster Elmer Gantry, was revealed on social media by his second wife, Lori Bakker.