Lamor Whitehead, ‘Bling Bishop’ of Brooklyn convicted of fraud, insists ‘story isn’t over’
Hours after his conviction on fraud and attempted extortion charges in Manhattan federal court in New York City on Monday, Bishop Lamor Whitehead of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Brooklyn, who is also known as the "Bling Bishop" due to his flashy lifestyle, insisted that he will be vindicated and his "story isn't over."
"The story isn't over. ... It's just a new chapter. … Stay (sic) tune … God is still God. … They can all laugh now and talk. After this ... Jesus will still get the glory. Stay tuned for this new chapter called ... Truth and vindication," he wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.
The post is accompanied by the soundtrack of gospel singer Marvin Sapp's "Chosen Vessel."
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In the first verse of the song's lyrics, Sapp croons about making mistakes from which he thought he would never recover:
"I've made mistakes I thought
I'd never recover from
Some said I fell from grace
I just knew I was done
I felt discarded, abandoned, and thrown away
But then God's love stepped in
Restored me to my place."
Whitehead, who is known to boast about his ties to New York City Mayor Eric Adams, was found guilty on five counts connected to his defrauding of a parishioner and attempt to extort a local businessman, including wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI, The New York Times reported.
In a video Tuesday, Bishop said he plans to appeal the conviction.
"The media is going to put out there what they want to put out there. They are going to make this look the way they want to make it look," he said. "Stop listening to all the social media platforms and the media."
Prosecutors said Whitehead defrauded parishioner Pauline Anderson of $90,000 of her retirement savings. He also tried to force Brandon Belmonte, who was running an auto body shop in the Bronx, to lend him $500,000 while promising him access to Mayor Adams.
In her lawsuit filed against Whitehead in September 2021, Anderson, 58, said the pastor promised to help her purchase a home after two mortgage lenders rejected her because her credit score was too low. Anderson co-signed a student loan for one of her children, which was in arrears, the lawsuit said.
When she failed to secure a home loan through traditional methods, the desperate Anderson, who joined Whitehead's church in January 2020, warily gave him a check for $90,000 in November 2020 when he said he could help her secure a home.
She told Whitehead she was wary of handing over her money because that was all she had to live on. Whitehead offered to give her $100 per month for her living expenses at that point so she could live off until the purchase and renovation of the property he promised was complete. Whitehead did not give Anderson a receipt for the $90,000 she paid him.
The lawsuit said Anderson trusted Whitehead with her money partly because he was her pastor. When she joined his church in 2020, she had just recovered from a life-threatening surgery. Whitehead, who was introduced to her by her son, Rasheed Anderson, had prayed for her. She further trusted Whitehead to help her find a home because he had also previously helped her son secure a home.
Whitehead purchased a $4.4 million mansion in Saddle River, New Jersey, after taking Anderson's money.
"Upon information and belief, LWI and Mr. Whitehead fraudulently converted Ms. Anderson's investment of $90,000.00 as part of his down payment on the Contract to purchase the Premises as a personal residence for Mr. Whitehead himself," the lawsuit said. "Ms. Anderson was instead left with nothing but a vague promise by Mr. Whitehead to pay the funds back in the future followed by an assertion that he had no further obligation to do so."
Whitehead, who ran a failed campaign to become Brooklyn borough president, also did not give Anderson the monthly $100 he promised. When she inquired about her money, he allegedly told her in text messages dated May 19, 2021, that "anything that was given to me is a Donation unless it's attached to a contract! I was making investments that's what I Do!"
Whitehead's insistence that he will be vindicated comes nearly two years after he was robbed at gunpoint of hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of jewelry while delivering a sermon at his church in July 2022.
In November 2023 one of three suspects involved in the robbery, Say-Quan Pollack, 25, admitted to Judge William F. Kuntz II in Brooklyn federal court that he was an accomplice in the robbery.
"I participated in a robbery, took another person's property, with a threat," Pollack said during a court hearing.
Another of the suspects in the robbery of Whitehead's church, Shamar Leggette, 41, was fatally shot by U.S. Marshals in New Jersey in January.
The controversial pastor was previously arrested in 2006 for a $2 million identity theft scam and served some five years in prison. He was released in 2013. He maintains that he was "falsely convicted and arrested for a crime I did not commit."
With his latest conviction, he faces decades in prison and will know his fate on July 1, when he appears before Judge Lorna G. Schofield for a sentencing hearing.
In a text message to The New York Times about Whitehead's conviction, Anderson's son said the episode had been a "painful journey for my mother and I."
"We owe it to God for bringing justice, peace and closure," he said.
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