Lamor Whitehead: ‘Swanky Bishop’, Friend of Mayor Adams, Arrested on Alleged Fraud and Extortion in New York | People

Pastor Lamor Whitehead, who might be called Glamor instead of Lamor for his passion for luxury and big brands, was arrested on Monday for defrauding a parishioner of his congregation and extorting a businessman. The 45-year-old cleric gained notoriety in July after reporting a theft of more than $1 million worth of jewelry in the middle of a Sunday sermon. The prisoner is also a close friend of the mayor of the city, Eric Adams, who recently went on fire for having frequented somewhat dubious companies, such as the two brothers who own one of the mayor’s favorite restaurants in Manhattan, under investigation for accounting and tax irregularities.

The allegations that led to the arrest of Whitehead, a former convict released on good behavior who always wears luxury tiles and exhibits a lifestyle that could be described as bling bling — the epitome of cheesy glitter — are a $90,000 federal fraud indictment against one of his parishioners, who had been saving it up for his retirement. In the extortion case, Whitehead allegedly used force as a threat to extort $5,000 from a Bronx businessman, not without promising his victim that he could “get favors from the New York City government” if he also gave him half a million dollars. as participation in some real estate transactions. The indictment emphasizes the intent of the deception, Whitehead being well aware that he “does not have the ability to obtain such favors” from the mayor’s office. Each of the charges can get you up to 20 years in prison.

In a statement released by his office, Adams called the allegations against Whitehead “disturbing,” noting that he deserves the presumption of innocence. “I’ve been enforcing the law for decades and I hope everyone does,” said the mayor, a former police officer who befriended Whitehead in 2013 when he was released from prison, where he was serving time for identity theft and robbery. . “I have also dedicated my life to helping people with troubled pasts [como Whitehead]. While these allegations are concerning, I will not comment further until the trial is complete.” After the charges were read out, in which the pastor pleaded not guilty, he was released this afternoon on $500,000 bail, local media reported.

“Lamor Whitehead abused a parishioner’s trust in him, intimidated a businessman for $5,000, then attempted to defraud him of much more and lied to federal agents,” the US Attorney said in a statement. United States Damian Williams. “Your campaign of fraud and deception ends here.” A parish priest’s lawyer has denounced that he has become a scoundrel, when in reality he is a victim of the system or of the theft of jewels, never clarified? -and he announced that he will defend himself “strongly”.

The life of Lamor Whitehead is a soap opera of tinsel and flash. Known as the “Bishop bling Brooklyn,” where he runs a church by preaching a “prosperity gospel” while driving a Rolls-Royce, the reinstated ex-con grabbed headlines. In May, Whitehead took advantage of his proximity to the mayor to offer to mediate with the perpetrator of a subway shooting that left about 20 people injured and whose escape put the city on high alert for more than 24 hours.His attempt to renounce the attacker, which Whitehead said he negotiated with the mayor, is failed and was arrested by the police before the shepherd could bring the lost sheep back to the fold.

Two months after the subway episode, Lamor Whitehead was robbed at gunpoint of more than $1 million worth of jewelry — including a thick link chain and a $75,000 Rolex — while delivering a sermon at his church, Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries, in Canarsie, a neighborhood in southeast Brooklyn. The incident, perpetrated by three men, has made rivers of ink, drawing public attention to Whitehead’s lavish lifestyle, as well as his years-long relationship with Adams, who once described him as “my good friend and my brother”.

The fraud complaint filed this summer by Pauline Anderson, 56, didn’t scare the mayor; on the contrary, she reaffirmed her support for her old friend. The parishioner claimed that while she was recovering from surgery, Whitehead “fraudulently tricked her into liquidating her life savings to pay for her $90,000 investment, promising to use the funds to purchase and renovate a home for she”. Deception is the core of the federal prosecution.

But the house was never built and the money disappeared, the complaint says. The pastor later explained to the woman that he considered the funds a campaign donation for his failed attempt to replace Adams as Brooklyn borough president. Instead, prosecutors believe the money was used to buy “thousands of dollars worth of luxury products and clothing.” “Whitehead never helped [a la víctima] to get a house and didn’t come back [su] money, even though he asked for it,” the prosecution says. Whitehead’s usual outfit is a display of hyper-luxury brand logos.

Before the federal charge was filed, Whitehead himself recently defended himself in statements to the magazine New York Magazine. Disdainful, he said he owed the woman nothing and was being attacked out of envy, for being “pious and charming.” That they call him an “ostentatious bishop” seems to him downright slander.