Law360 is providing free access to its coronavirus coverage to make sure all members of the legal community have accurate information in this time of uncertainty and change. Use the form below to sign up for any of our weekly newsletters. Signing up for any of our section newsletters will opt you in to the weekly Coronavirus briefing.
Sign up for our Health newsletter
You must correct or enter the following before you can sign up:
Thank You!
Law360 (June 23, 2021, 4:14 PM EDT) -- Missouri Attorney General Eric Schmitt announced Wednesday that televangelist Jim Bakker and his company Morningside Church Productions Inc. will pay as much as $156,000 in restitution to resolve claims that he marketed "Silver Solution" as a cure for the virus that causes COVID-19.
The state filed suit against Bakker and Morningside in March 2020, after seeing a clip from his show advertising the product as being able to cure the coronavirus that caused a pandemic that shut down much of the United States last year.
"Today I'm pleased to announce that the Missouri Attorney General's Office has obtained a consent judgment against Jim Bakker and Morningside Church Productions that results in $156,000 in restitution and strong safeguards to prevent the marketing of 'silver solution' as a cure or treatment for COVID and other medical issues," Schmitt said in a statement Wednesday. "My Office will continue to work tirelessly on behalf of Missouri consumers, and will not hesitate to take action when those consumers are being defrauded."
According to the consent judgment filed Tuesday, Bakker offered Silver Solution as a quid pro quo: dosages of the product in exchange for contributions of $80 to $125 to Morningside Church between Feb. 12 and March 10, 2020. Bakker was among several entities who received warnings from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in March last year to stop pushing unapproved drugs as COVID-19 cures.
Under the agreement, Bakker is barred from advertising or selling Silver Solution to diagnose, prevent, treat or cure any disease or illness, and will pay up to $115,766 to Missouri residents who made contributions to his church in exchange for the solution.
If the church pays out less than that sum, then the difference between the refunds made and $90,000 will be paid to the Merchandising Practices Revolving Fund. Between the payments made under the consent agreement and the refunds Bakker has already sent out, Schmitt said the total will be roughly $156,000.
The consent judgment also calls for $50,000 in civil penalties and $10,000 for the attorney general's costs, both of which are suspended on the condition that Bakker and Morningside Church abide by the other terms of the agreement.
In the consent agreement, Bakker and Morningside do not admit to any wrongdoing, and said they agreed to the settlement to avoid the expense and risk of litigation.
"Pastor Bakker and Morningside Church Productions are pleased to have concluded this matter amicably so that they can continue the important work of Morningside Church," said Bakker and Morningside's counsel, Derek Ankrom of Spencer Fane LLP and Jay Nixon of Dowd Bennett, in a statement Wednesday. "The court's judgment entered yesterday made no findings whatsoever that our clients violated any laws or misled any of their partners. We are appreciative of Attorney General Schmitt and his office for recognizing, and endeavoring to preserve, the vital and fundamental religious freedoms and First Amendment rights of Morningside Church and its partners in resolving this suit."
Representatives for the state could not immediately be reached for comment Wednesday.
Bakker and Morningside are represented by Derek Ankrom of Spencer Fane LLP and Jay Nixon of Dowd Bennett.
The state is represented by Assistant Attorney General Steven Reed.
The case is State of Missouri v. Bakker et al., case number 20SN-CC-00084, in the Circuit Court of Stone County, State of Missouri.
--Additional reporting by Kevin Stawicki. Editing by Ellen Johnson.
For a reprint of this article, please contact reprints@law360.com.
