Lamor Whitehead, the Brooklyn preacher nicknamed “Bishop Bling” for his flashy clothes and flashy car, was found guilty Tuesday of defrauding elderly parishioners and attempting to extort business owners. , claimed it was part of a larger scheme by the FBI. He becomes an informant for New York Mayor Adams.
Mr Whitehead, 45, posted a video message to his 1.3 million followers from inside his Rolls Royce on Tuesday, saying he had refused to press charges against Mr Adams with the FBI. Adams’ campaign is facing a federal corruption investigation.
“This wasn’t about me…I had no intention of becoming an FBI informant against New York City Mayor Eric Adams,” Whitehead wrote in the video’s caption.
“This was politically motivated,” Whitehead said. “This was about Mayor Eric Adams.”
Brooklyn’s ‘illustrious bishop’ Lamore Whitehead denies stealing from parishioner’s mother on first day of fraud trial
Lamor Whitehead (left) and then-Brooklyn Borough President Eric Adams walk in the West Indian Parade in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, on September 5, 2016. (Stephen Jeremiah)
Whitehead was found guilty of five charges, including wire fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to federal law enforcement officers, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York.
Whitehead was found guilty of tricking Pauline Anderson into investing about $90,000 of her retirement savings by promising to use them to buy a home.
Instead, prosecutors allege, Whitehead spent the money on luxury items from Louis Vuitton and Foot Locker and on car payments. When Anderson requested repayment, Whitehead lied to avoid repayment, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.
Whitehead also extorted $5,000 from Brandon Belmonte, the owner of an auto repair shop in the Bronx, asked him to lend him $500,000 in exchange for favorable behavior from Adams, and to give him stock in certain real estate deals. He tried to persuade the businessman to get promised benefits that prosecutors say Whitehead knew he couldn’t do, prosecutors said.
New York bishop files $20 million lawsuit against social media critics who stole $1 million in jewelry during sermon and claimed false rumors
Whitehead, of Paramus, New Jersey, faces decades in prison.
“Bring Bishop” LaMore Whitehead (left) was found guilty of wire fraud on Monday, but claims the trial arose because he refused to become an FBI informant against Mayor Eric Adams (right) are doing. (Instagram/@iambishopwhitehead)
“As the jury unanimously found, Lamor Whitehead abused the trust of his parishioners, used false bank records to obtain fraudulent loans, bullied a businessman out of $5,000, and gave much more. federal agents,” said U.S. Attorney Damian Williams.
“Mr. Whitehead’s reprehensible lies and criminal conduct have caught up with him, and he has now been convicted of five federal crimes and faces prison time.”
Mr Whitehead claimed he had been “targeted” and vowed to appeal.
He said the FBI came to his home on June 8 seeking information about the mayor and was told that he was not under arrest but that they had a search warrant to take his cellphone.
“And what they told me was, ‘We don’t need you, we want the mayor of New York.'” [City]”And just because I had no intention of becoming a federal informant…the FBI they said, [were] My life is going to be a living hell, and you can see it too. ”
Mr. Whitehead maintained that he was innocent. The FBI investigation into Adams became public in November when the home of one of his campaign consultants was raided.
The FBI told Fox News Digital it would not comment on Whitehead’s claims.
Bishop Lamor Whitehead speaks at a press conference in Brooklyn on July 29, 2022. (Theodore Parisienne/New York Daily News/Tribune News Service via Getty Images)
In a July 2021 Instagram post, Whitehead posted a collage of photos taken with Adams before he took office, writing, “My mentor, my friend, and the man who truly supported me as a man. Congratulations to the person who can be said to have helped me!”
Whitehead was about to succeed Adams as mayor of Brooklyn. But according to the New York Times, Adams did not support Whitehead and reprimanded him for using Whitehead’s name in a “misleading” campaign ad, according to texts prosecutors showed during the trial. I quoted the message.
Whitehead asked Belmonte for a $500,000 loan, promising access to Adams.
One of Mr. Whitehead’s lawyers downplayed his client’s relationship with Mr. Adams at trial, saying that Mr. Whitehead had access to Mr. Adams “earlier than most people,” a statement he said was true. insisted. But prosecutors also showed unanswered messages from Whitehead to Adams from early 2022, The New York Times reported.
Adams told reporters last month that the legal filing by prosecutors “clearly states:” [Whitehead] There was no permission and no connectivity with the action. [the] Mayor or borough president. ”
Adams said at a press conference today that he was not involved in the investigation and that prosecutors in the case said there was “no benefit from the government.”
Meanwhile, Pauline Anderson said she trusted Mr Whitehead to buy her a home because she had been unable to afford it due to poor credit.
“He was a man of God,” she said, according to the New York Times. “I believed him to be a leader in the church.”
“Bring Bishop” LaMore Whitehead claims his refusal to become an FBI informant against Mayor Eric Adams led to his lawsuit. (Instagram/@iambishopwhitehead)
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Whitehead was convicted of identity theft and grand larceny, resulting in a five-year prison term.
He founded Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in 2013 and became a bishop.
The Brooklyn preacher owns a $1.6 million home in Paramus, New Jersey, and an apartment in Hartford, Connecticut.
Whitehead has been held on $500,000 bail since his arrest, just months after a robbery in which $1 million in jewelry was stolen by gunmen during a church service.
FOX News’ Maria Palonich, Chris Pandolfo and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
