Federal authorities on Monday arrested Brooklyn Bishop Lamor Whitehead, charging him with allegedly fleecing a 56-year-old parishioner of her entire life savings, extorting a businessman, and lying to federal agents.
The parishioner, identified in an indictment as Victim-1, appears to be Pauline Anderson, who has a lawsuit pending against Whitehead alleging he bilked her out of $90,000 in retirement savings in exchange for promising to help her purchase a home that never materialized.
The allegations against Whitehead from Anderson were first reported by THE CITY in July.
That was just days after Whitehead made national headlines for being robbed at gunpoint on the pulpit alongside his wife while Whitehead was delivering a Sunday sermon that was being live streamed. Two of the three alleged robbers were arrested and charged in September.
According to federal prosecutors, Whitehead used his parishioner’s money “to purchase thousands of dollars of luxury goods and clothing” and “never helped” her obtain a home, ignoring her requests to return her money.
A representative for the law firm representing Anderson in an ongoing lawsuit against Whitehead declined to comment.
The unsealed indictment from U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Damian Williams also alleges that Whitehead “used threats of force” to attempt to get $5,000 from a businessman earlier this year.
The indictment alleges the bishop attempted to get the businessman to lend him around $500,000 and give him a stake in unspecified real estate transactions in exchange for “favorable actions” from New York City authorities — actions which Whitehead knew “he had no ability” to make happen, according to prosecutors.
“As we allege today, Lamor Whitehead abused the trust placed in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that, and lied to federal agents,” said Williams in a statement. “His campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”
Dawn Florio, the attorney who is defending Whitehead in his federal case, said he’s not guilty of the charges.
“He will be vigorously defending these allegations,” said Florio. “He feels that he is being targeted and being turned into a villain from a victim.”
‘My Good Friend’
Whitehead, who is pastor of the storefront Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches in Canarsie, ran unsuccessfully for Brooklyn borough president last year. Previously, he served five years in New York State prison after being convicted of grand larceny and 15 instances of identity fraud in 2008.
The pastor has described himself as a close associate of Mayor Eric Adams. Adams, for his part, in 2016 introduced Whitehead at a concert in Brooklyn as “my good friend and good brother” but has more recently characterized the relationship as one of mentorship.
“I’ve spent decades enforcing the law and expect everyone to follow it. I have also dedicated my life to assisting individuals with troubled pasts,” Adams told THE CITY in an email on Monday. “While these allegations are troubling, I will withhold further comment until the process reaches its final conclusion.”
Federal prosecutors are also charging the bishop for alleged false statements. During the execution of a search warrant, Whitehead told FBI agents that he only owned the cellphone that he had on him at the time, but in reality he had a second phone, which he used before and after the search warrant execution, the indictment claims.
A text message on that second phone referred to it as “my other phone,” the indictment says.
Brian Ponder, an attorney defending Whitehead from Anderson’s claims in civil court, declined to comment on behalf of his client.
Whitehead shot to national prominence this July when he and his wife were robbed of more than $1 million worth of jewelry in the middle of a sermon at his church in Canarsie. Previously, the bishop had attempted to intervene in the arrest of Andrew Abdullah, a man accused of shooting to death a subway rider on the Q train in Manhattan this May in an unprovoked attack.
Whitehead told The New York Post that he had planned to bring Abdullah in to surrender himself directly to Mayor Adams.
