BROOKLYN, NEW YORK: SEPTEMBER 7, 2020- Bishop Lamor Whitehead, NYPD Patrol Borough Brooklyn North Chief Judith Harrison, Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams, Media Personality Angela Yee and Recording Artist Frivio attend the Peace Walk from Brooklyn Borough Hall to Restoration Plaza in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn convened by Bishop Lamor Whitehead. Credit: mpi43/MediaPunch /IPX
A preacher notorious for proselytizing in flashy suits and expensive jewelry in Brooklyn was found guilty on multiple counts of fraud after a federal jury heard extensive evidence about the so-called “Bling Bishop’s” scams, including one involving attempted extortion of a businessman and another that depleted a trusting parishioners’ retirement account.
Lamor Whitehead was on trial in the Southern District of New York for two weeks, according to the Justice Department, but it only took a matter of hours for jurors to render their verdict on Monday and find the 45-year-old Paramus, New Jersey resident guilty on two counts of wire fraud, one count of attempted wire fraud, and one count of attempted extortion. Each charge carries a hefty maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.
Adding to that, Whitehead was convicted of one count of making false statements, a charge that carries a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Whitehead, as Law&Crime previously reported, made headlines just under a year ago when he was robbed of jewelry at gunpoint while he was livestreaming a sermon at his church above a restaurant in Brooklyn.
Since that episode, the founder of the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries has been in the hot seat.
Whitehead, 45, was arrested in December 2023 and according to an indictment, he was accused of conning a worshipper later identified at trial as Pauline Anderson out of $90,000. Anderson held the funds aside for her retirement but Whitehead induced her to fork it over as he promised to help her buy a home she could repair.
That never happened.
Instead, he spent her savings on himself, scooping up designer duds and shoes, according to prosecutors. And when Anderson started asking for her money back, Whitehead asked God to smite her, the New York Daily News reported last month.
The convicted preacher boasted of being a friend to New York Mayor Eric Adams and Adams went to bat for Whitehead after he was robbed on livestream.
“Lamor, and any other individual that I support, I continue to try to mentor. As a Black man, I have an obligation to mentor other Black men that had negative encounters in their lives and other people in general,” Adams said after the robbery, CBS reported.
Prosecutors say Whitehead used those ties to boost his image to another one of his victims: businessman Brandon Belmonte.
First, Whitehead extorted Belmonte, an auto body shop owner, out of $5,000, and then, sensing he had a fish on the hook, prosecutors say Whitehead pressured Belmonte for a half-million-dollar loan.
The preacher tried to convince Belmonte to “give him a stake in certain real estate transactions in return for favorable actions from the Mayor of New York City, even though Whitehead knew he could not obtain the favors he promised.”
Evidence was also presented at trial demonstrating how Whitehead applied for a $250,000 business loan with records he had doctored. He claimed he had millions in the bank and hundreds of thousands of dollars in monthly revenue, according to court records.
He also lied to the FBI when they searched his mansion in Paramus: prosecutors said he told them he did not have a cellphone other than the one on his person.
In truth, he had another one hidden in his home.
U.S. Attorney Damiam Williams reflected on the conviction Tuesday, saying in a public statement: “Whitehead’s reprehensible lies and criminal conduct have caught up with him, as he now stands convicted of five federal crimes and faces time in prison.”
He was set to be sentenced on July 1.
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