PTL Satellite Network

==Aftermath==
Following a sixteen-month federal [[grand jury]] probe, Bakker was [[indictment|indicted]] in 1988 on eight counts of [[mail fraud]], 15&nbsp;counts of [[wire fraud]] and one count of [[racketeering|conspiracy]].<ref name=Time12-1988 /><ref>''U.S. v. Bakker'', (C.A.4, 1991), 925 F.2d 728, 740, case no. 89-5687</ref> In 1989, after a five-week trial which began on August 28 in Charlotte, the jury found him guilty on all 24&nbsp;counts, and Judge Robert Potter sentenced him to 45&nbsp;years in [[federal prison]] and a $500,000&nbsp;fine.<ref name=Jay />{{rp|52}}<ref name=Buckeye>{{cite web | last=Peifer | first=Justice Paul E. | title=Jim Bakker's Federal Court Appeal | publisher=Supreme Court of Ohio website | date=April 12, 2000 | url=http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Justices/pfeifer/column/2000/jp041200.htm | access-date=2007-11-29 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080430221259/http://www.sconet.state.oh.us/Justices/pfeifer/column/2000/jp041200.htm | archive-date=April 30, 2008 }}</ref> Bakker served time in the [[Federal Medical Center, Rochester]] in Minnesota, sharing a cell with activist [[Lyndon LaRouche]] and skydiver [[Roger Nelson (skydiver)|Roger Nelson]].<ref>https://securesite.chireader.com/cgi-bin/Archive/abridged2.bat?path=2004/040402/SKYDIVE&search=khakpour{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> In early 1991, a federal appeals court upheld Bakker's conviction on the fraud and conspiracy charges, but voided Bakker's 45-year sentence, as well as the $500,000 fine, and ordered that a new sentencing hearing be held.<ref name=Buckeye />

Jim and Tammy Bakker were divorced on March 13, 1992. On November 16, 1992, a sentence reduction hearing was held and Bakker's sentence was reduced to eight years.<ref name=Jay />{{rp|104}}

In August 1993, Bakker was transferred to a [[Incarceration in the United States#Security levels|minimum security federal prison]] in [[Jesup, Georgia|Jesup]], [[Georgia (U.S. state)|Georgia]], and was subsequently granted [[parole]] in July 1994, after serving almost five years of his sentence.<ref name=Jay />{{rp|116, 130}} Bakker's son, Jay, spearheaded a letter-writing campaign to the parole board on his father's behalf, urging leniency.<ref name=Jay />{{rp|106&ndash;115}} Bakker was released from BOP custody on December 1, 1994.<ref>"[http://www.bop.gov/iloc2/InmateFinderServlet?Transaction=NameSearch&needingMoreList=false&FirstName=James&Middle=&LastName=Bakker&Race=U&Sex=U&Age=&x=95&y=16 James O. Bakker]." [[Federal Bureau of Prisons]]. Retrieved on January 8, 2010.</ref>

On July 23, 1996, a [[North Carolina]] jury threw out a [[class action]] suit brought on behalf of more than 160,000 onetime supporters who contributed as much as $7,000 each to Bakker's coffers in the 1980s. The ''Observer'' reported that the [[Internal Revenue Service]] still holds Bakker and Roe Messner liable for personal income taxes owed from the 1980s when they were building the PTL empire, taxes assessed after the IRS revoked PTL's nonprofit status. Messner said that the original tax amount was about $500,000, with penalties and interest accounting for the rest. Notices stating the IRS [[lien]]s list still identify "James O. and Tamara F. Bakker" as owing $6,000,000, liens on which Jim Bakker still pays.