Controversial Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead of Leaders of Tomorrow Worldwide Ministries, who has been dogged by allegations of fraud since he made headlines final summer time when he and his church had been robbed of bijou he claimed was price tons of of 1000’s of {dollars}, was arrested and charged Monday for fraud, extortion and mendacity to the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

An indictment unsealed by Damian Williams, United States lawyer for the Southern District of New York, and Michael J. Driscoll, assistant director in control of the New York Discipline Workplace of the FBI, accuses Whitehead, 45, of defrauding one in all his parishioners out of $90,000 from her retirement financial savings, and making an attempt to extort and defraud a businessman, and mendacity to the FBI in regards to the variety of telephones he has, in keeping with a launch from the workplace of the US Lawyer for the Southern District of New York.

The Brooklyn preacher, who’s a resident of Paramus, New Jersey, has been charged with two counts of wire fraud, which carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail every. He has additionally been charged with one depend of extortion, which carries a most sentence of 20 years in jail; and one depend of creating materials false statements, which carries a most sentence of 5 years in jail.

Investigators allege that after Whitehead induced one in all his parishioners to take a position roughly $90,000 of her retirement financial savings with him, he spent her cash on luxurious items and different private bills. They additional allege that he extorted a businessman for $5,000, then tried to get the businessman to mortgage him $500,000 and provides him a stake in sure actual property transactions in alternate for favorable actions from the New York Metropolis authorities.

“As we allege right now, Lamor Whitehead abused the belief positioned in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of way over that, and lied to federal brokers,” Williams mentioned in an announcement. “His marketing campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”

When he was being questioned by FBI brokers, Whitehead reportedly falsely mentioned he solely had one cellphone, which he was carrying on the time of his interview. Nevertheless it was later found that he owned a second cellphone which he used recurrently.

Whitehead pleaded not responsible at his arraignment in Manhattan federal court docket and was launched on $500,000 bond, the New York Put up reported Monday.

His lawyer, Daybreak Florio, mentioned her shopper was being focused.

“We’re vigorously going to defend these accusations. We really feel that he’s being focused and he’s being turned from a sufferer right into a villain,” Florio informed the publication. “This all stems out of a civil lawsuit that’s being dealt with in civil court docket. He will likely be vindicated.”

Whitehead is being sued by parishioner Pauline Anderson, 56, for $2.45 million in precise and punitive damages for taking $90,000 of her financial savings to safe a home for her, however he used the cash to safe a house for himself as an alternative.

In accordance with the lawsuit, filed final September and first cited publicly by The Metropolis, Whitehead promised to assist Anderson buy a house after she was rejected by two mortgage lenders as a result of her credit score rating was too low. Anderson had co-signed for a scholar mortgage for one in all her kids which was in arrears, the lawsuit mentioned.

When she did not safe a house mortgage by means of conventional strategies, the determined Anderson who joined Whitehead’s church in January 2020, warily gave him a examine for $90,000 in November 2020 when he mentioned he may assist her safe a house. She informed Whitehead that she was cautious in handing over her cash as a result of that was all she needed to stay on. Whitehead supplied to provide her $100 per 30 days for her dwelling bills at that time to stay off till the acquisition and renovation of the property he promised was full.

Whitehead didn’t give Anderson a receipt for the $90,000 she paid him.

The lawsuit mentioned Anderson trusted Whitehead together with her cash partly as a result of he was her pastor. When she joined his church in 2020, she had simply recovered from a life-threatening surgical procedure and Whitehead, who was launched to her by her son, Rasheed Anderson, had prayed for her. She additional trusted Whitehead to assist her discover a house as a result of he had additionally beforehand helped her son safe a house.

Whitehead allegedly took Anderson’s cash to buy a $4.4 million mansion in Saddle River, New Jersey.

Whitehead, who ran a failed marketing campaign to grow to be Brooklyn borough president, additionally didn’t give Anderson the month-to-month $100 he promised, and when she inquired about her cash he allegedly informed her in textual content messages dated Might 19, 2021, that “something that was given to me is a Donation until it’s hooked up to a contract! I used to be making investments that’s what I Do!”

Earlier this summer time, data from the New York Metropolis Police Division mentioned three masked gunmen burst into Whitehead’s church and robbed them at gunpoint throughout a church service. A video of the incident reveals Whitehead shortly surrendering to the gunmen as they relieved him, his spouse and their congregation of their valuable stones.

Whereas police sources cited by The New York Occasions mentioned the stolen jewellery was price greater than $1 million, different experiences pegged the worth at about $400,000.

Whitehead was arrested in 2006 for a $2 million identity-theft rip-off and served some 5 years in jail however was launched in 2013. He claims he was “falsely convicted and arrested for a criminal offense I didn’t commit.”  

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