A flamboyant Brooklyn pastor often called the “Bling bishop” has been sentenced to 9 years in jail for schemes that included preying on the checking account of certainly one of his personal followers.
Lamor Whitehead, a New York preacher identified for his flashy way of life, was discovered responsible in March of wire fraud, tried wire fraud, tried extortion and making false statements to federal investigators.
Prosecutors argued that Whitehead, 45, used his place as a spiritual chief to fleece folks out of cash to fund his lavish way of life.
Whitehead made headlines in 2022 after he was robbed at gunpoint throughout a live-streamed sermon. The thieves made off with $1m (£840,000) in watches, diamonds and emeralds.
Damian Williams, the USA Lawyer for the Southern District of New York, known as Whitehead a “con man” and stated the sentence marks the top of his “varied schemes”.
Officers say Whitehead, who led the Leaders of Tomorrow Worldwide Ministries in Canarsie, New York, deceived folks with false guarantees and stole their cash to buy gadgets together with fancy clothes and vehicles.
One in every of his victims, a member of his church, gave him $90,000 – her life financial savings – believing that the cash would go in direction of buying a house for her. It was as an alternative spent on clothes and automobile funds.
He additionally doctored paperwork to be able to safe enterprise loans and tried to extort a Bronx businessman by falsely claiming to have entry to New York Mayor Eric Adams.
“Bishop Whitehead is in my prayers,” the mayor stated on Monday forward of the sentencing, based on the New York Instances.
Attorneys for Whitehead stated they plan to battle his conviction.
