We all probably could have guessed it was coming: a lawsuit related to coronavirus.

The state of Missouri is suing televangelist Jim Bakker and his production company in an effort to stop them from advertising or selling Silver Solution, a product touted on Bakker's show to treat COVID-19 disease.

According to news reports, Bakker's guest, "natural health expert" Sherrill Sellman, appeared on a February program falsely implying that the Silver Solution could effectively attack the coronavirus. Silver Solution was being offered for $80 for four 4-ounce bottles.

"This influenza that is now circling the globe," Bakker said. "You're saying that Silver Solution would be effective."

"Well, let's say it hasn't been tested on this strain of the coronavirus, but it has been tested on other strains of the coronavirus and has been able to eliminate it within 12 hours," Sellman said. "Totally eliminate it. Kills it. Deactivates it."

The Missouri Attorney General's Office wrote in its application for a temporary restraining order that Bakker and Morningside Church Productions have violated Missouri law by "falsely promising to consumers that Silver Solution can cure, eliminate, kill or deactivate coronavirus and/or boost elderly consumers' immune system and help keep them healthy when there is, in fact, no vaccine, pill, potion or other product available to treat or cure coronavirus disease 2019." Bakker and his company are based in the state.

Earlier this month, the New York Attorney General's Office issued a cease-and-desist letter to Bakker.

"Your show's segment may mislead consumers as to the effectiveness of the Silver Solution product in protecting against the current outbreak," wrote Lisa Landau, chief of the New York Attorney General's Office's health care bureau. The World Health Organization "has noted that there is no specific medicine to prevent or treat this disease," the letter said. It gave Bakker 10 business days to comply or face legal action.

A few days after New York's letter, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the Federal Trade Commission warned Bakker that his website and Facebook page were selling "unapproved new drugs" in violation of the law.

Despite Bakker's website removing Silver Solution for sale, a spokesman for the Missouri Attorney General's Office said it would continue seeking the temporary restraining order. "That way they can't come back in months or years and start selling solution as a miracle cure again," said Chris Nuelle, the Attorney General's Press Secretary.

—Source: npr.org