Lamor Whitehead, famous for designer suits and jewels, had himself been the victim of a brazen armed robbery. Now, he faces an array of federal financial fraud charges.
Lamor Whitehead, a flamboyant Brooklyn pastor who was the victim of a brazen armed robbery last summer, was arrested on Monday on charges of fraud, extortion and lying to federal authorities.
Federal prosecutors in Manhattan said Bishop Whitehead solicited money from victims, including a retired parishioner, through threats or false promises of enriching them, then kept the money for himself.
His lawyer, Dawn Florio, said, “Bishop Whitehead denies these allegations, and we are going to fight them vigorously.”
He was expected to appear in federal court in Manhattan on Monday afternoon.
Bishop Whitehead, 44, was thrust into the public eye on July 24, when armed robbers rushed into his small Brooklyn church, Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries. The masked men arrived during his sermon, which was being streamed on the internet, and stole jewelry and other property from him and his wife.
Two men were charged in Brooklyn federal court in September in connection with the robbery. For Bishop Whitehead, the charges were something of a vindication — the robbery had drawn attention to his expensive personal tastes and raised questions about his past.
The charges on Monday accused Bishop Whitehead of conduct that predated the robbery and indicated that the authorities in Manhattan had been investigating him well before the events of the summer.
He faces one count each of wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and false statements.
In spring 2022, according to the indictment unsealed Monday, Bishop Whitehead tried to persuade a businessman to give him $500,000 and a stake in some real-estate transactions. In exchange, Bishop Whitehead promised to secure favorable actions from the city that would make both of them “millions,” even though, according to the indictment, he knew he had no ability to deliver on his pledge.
While the indictment does not name any city officials or specify any actions, the bishop has previously claimed a friendship with Mayor Eric Adams. On Monday, a spokesman for the mayor pointed toward comments Mr. Adams made in July, in which he acknowledged his relationship with the bishop, but said “no one’s above the law.”
Early in Bishop Whitehead’s relationship with the unnamed businessman, the cleric also used threats of force to get $5,000 from a business the businessman owned, prosecutors said. At the direction of law enforcement officials, the businessman made the payment, according to the indictment.
The charges related to the retired church member were initially revealed in a 2021 lawsuit filed in Brooklyn and an investigation into the bishop’s wealth. In 2020, a woman who had recently visited the church was recovering from surgery, prosecutors said. Bishop Whitehead offered to help her buy a new home, and the woman, Pauline Anderson, 56, sent him $90,000 that she had withdrawn from her retirement account, according to a lawsuit.
“I am a man of integrity, and you will not lose,” he texted her. She asked for her money back, but he said it was too late, as it had already been invested.
The false statement count arises from an encounter with FBI agents during the investigation into his conduct, according to the indictment. The agents executed a search warrant for the bishop’s mobile phones, and he told them he had only one when in fact he had a second phone.
Since the robbery at his church and the press scrutiny that followed, Bishop Whitehead has portrayed himself as a victim of racism and shaming. In a livestream on Instagram from his home on Sunday — the congregation stopped meeting at the church several weeks ago — he said the tumultuous summer was a test of his character.
“Do you all know the world was against me? The world!” he said. “They laid the media outside, everywhere I turned, somebody taking pictures. They’re talking about me, and they’re just laying there, waiting to kill me in the morning.”
“Everybody thought that I was a villain,” he said, “but now they’re seeing I was anointed by God.”
Less than 24 hours later, he was arrested.
Bishop Whitehead, as a young man, was a mortgage broker with an office in the Empire State Building. But in 2008, he was convicted of several charges, including identity theft, in Long Island, where he had taken out loans in other people’s names and used the money for cars and motorcycles, according to evidence brought at his trial. He spent five years in prison.
When he emerged in 2013, he immediately founded his church, based on the prosperity gospel, which emphasizes the benefits of accumulating wealth while worshiping God. He wore designer suits and drove luxury vehicles.
But according to court records, Bishop Whitehead’s persona as the so-called bling bishop had led to deep debt.
In 2019, he stopped making his monthly payments on a Mercedes-Benz and a Range Rover in New Jersey, leading to a $68,000 judgment against him. That same year, he wrote a bad check for $164,000 to the company that built his home in Paramus, N.J., according to a lawsuit.
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