Brooklyn’s ‘bling bishop’ Lamor Whitehead will spend nine years behind bars for a litany of crimes including defrauding and extorting his own parishioners.
The 46-year-old church leader was found guilty in March of five counts including wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI – stemming from three separate schemes.
Whitehead – who became notorious for the luxury suits he wore and the Rolls Royce he drove while running the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie – has been held in custody since Judge Lorna G. Schofield revoked his bail last month.
She admonished him at the time for making false statements about law enforcement officials and his victims on social media, and hit out at Whitehead again on Monday, after he pleaded for her mercy, the New York Times reports.
‘I don’t see any remorse for your conduct,’ Schofield said, adding that he did not seem to appreciate the effects his crimes had on his victims – or even the basic facts of the case.
Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead was sentenced Monday to nine years behind bars
Among the crimes Whitehead was found guilty of was conning Pauline Anderson, an elderly single mother, out of $90,000 from her retirement fund.
He had promised to buy help her achieve her lifelong goal of buying a home, but prosecutors said he instead spent the money on shopping sprees at Polo and Louis Vuitton and on payments for a BMW.
When the victim’s son eventually attempted to get recoup his mother’s funds, Whitehead said in a text message he was asking God to ‘exact vengeance’ upon the man.
Two other schemes targeted a money-lending company and a Bronx businessman.
He was found guilty in March of five counts including wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI about having a second cellphone – stemming from three separate schemes
Whitehead became notorious for the luxury suits he wore and the Rolls Royce he drove while running the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie
Prosecutors said the bishop drew up fake bank statements to secure a $250,000 loan, claiming that he had millions in a company account that actually contained less than $6.
He was also accused of attempting to extort $5,000 from Brandon Belmonte, the owner of a Bronx auto body shop, after a repair job.
Prosecutors alleged Whitehead further tried to convince Belmonte to lend him $500,000 and give him a stake in real estate deals, insisting his connections to city officials could earn them favorable treatment and score them millions.
In one recording of a conversation between Whitehead and Belmonte – who was wearing a wire for the FBI, the pastor could be heard telling the auto body shop that he had ‘the key to the city’ and that he could procure favors from Mayor Eric Adams – including getting permits to operate affordable housing or lifting stop-work orders at construction sites.
Those claims were false, prosecutors argued.
Prosecutors have said Whitehead told one of his victims he could procure favors from Mayor Eric Adams
They argued in a pre-sentencing memo that Whitehead was a ‘career conman and liar’ who committed fraud for more than two decades.
They claimed he abused his position as a religious leader to rake in millions of dollars, and noted that after his conviction in March, Whitehead tried to sell legal documents from his case.
Prosecutors also pointed out that in 2008, Whitehead was convicted of several charges of identity theft for a scheme in which he secured cars and motorcycles using other people’s names. He served five years in prison for the crime.
‘This defendant has repeatedly committed serious crimes and repeatedly cast the blame for them on everyone but himself,’ the prosecutors wrote in the pre-sentencing memo.
Then in court on Monday, Pauline Anderson teared up as she described how she spent a lifetime working – only to lose her entire retirement fund when she gave it to Whitehead.
‘I lost everything I had worked for,’ she said, adding that Whitehead’s betrayal ‘broke my heart, my spirit and my soul.’
Her son, Rasheed Anderson, 30, who was once an acolyte of Whitehead’s, also said his mom was a hardworking single parent from Jamaica who helped support many relatives – always putting herself last, the Times reports.
‘I was used and taken advantage of, and because of that I have to see my mother suffer because of Lamor Whitehead’s deceit,’ he said.
His defense attorneys argued he is a man of faith and should be ‘freed immediately’
But Whitehead’s defense attorneys argued he should be ‘freed immediately’ on supervised release.
His attorney Dawn Florio argued he is a man of faith who had done charitable work and who has even sought to go into public service as the Brooklyn borough president.
She pointed to numerous letters from parishioners at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries praising Whitehead, and argued he may have PTSD from a caught-on-camera robbery while he was giving a sermon two years ago.
Two men have since pleaded guilty to the robbery and are due to be sentenced in August, while a third man who was charged in the heist died in a shootout with US Marshals in January.
Whitehead also pleaded for a lighter sentence – highlighting his work in a poor community in Brooklyn
Meanwhile, Whitehead pleaded with the judge for a lighter sentence- highlighting his work in a poor community in Brooklyn, according to the Times.
He mentioned several police and elected officials he said he worked with on gun buybacks, youth programs and ‘untold turkey giveaways,’ claiming: ‘I am a pillar of the community.’
‘Your honor, I am an honorable man and my children need me,’ Whitehead said, the New York Post reports.
‘Allow me to be the poster child of another chance.’
But Schofield disagreed, arguing he did not take responsibility for his actions, and sentenced him to serve nine years in jail with three years post-release supervision.
Outside of court, Rasheed Anderson said he had hoped Schofield would order a longer prison sentence, but added that he hopes the sentencing will lead to his mother recovering her hard-earned money.
‘It has been a traumatic event for all of us,’ he told the Times.
‘This is our first step toward closure.’