‘Bling Bishop’ who bragged about ties to Eric Adams has been convicted of fraud

Lamor Whitehead, a Brooklyn pastor known as the “bling bishop” for his ostentatious luxury assets, was convicted Monday in Manhattan federal court of defrauding a parishioner and trying to extort a businessman, while bragging about his ties to Mayor Eric Adams.

Mr. Whitehead, 45, was found guilty on five charges, including wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI. Prosecutors said Mr. Whitehead, who had previously been convicted of identity theft, had lied and threatened to force his victims to hand over money. him money, and misrepresented his relationship with the mayor.

“He lied about access, he lied about influence, he lied about everything,” prosecutor Derek Wikstrom said in his closing argument.

The government said Mr. Whitehead persuaded the parishioner, Pauline Anderson, to invest about $90,000 of her retirement savings with him — and then spent the money on car payments and goods from Louis Vuitton and Foot Locker. Other charges relate to his interactions with Brandon Belmonte, who ran an auto body shop in the Bronx. Mr. Whitehead tried to force Mr. Belmonte to lend him $500,000 while promising access to Mr. Adams, prosecutors said.

In the defense’s closing arguments, Declan Murray, one of Mr Whitehead’s lawyers, compared criminal trials to the process of buying a house. He accused the government of – the house, in this analogy – being poorly built and infested with termites.

But the jury was not swayed by the defense.

Mr Whitehead’s sentencing is set for July 1.

Mr. Whitehead had considered Mr. Adams, 63, a former Brooklyn borough president, a mentor. The younger man tried to follow in his footsteps and launched a bid to become Brooklyn borough president in 2021. But Mr. Adams would not support Mr. Whitehead — and even admonished him for using his name in a “misleading” campaign ad, according to text messages shown by prosecutors during the trial.

Mr Murray responded that Mr Whitehead had only said he could get a meeting with Mr Adams “faster than most people” – and that statement, he claimed, was true. But prosecutors also showed other messages from Mr Whitehead to Mr Adams in early 2022 that went unanswered.

That was an eventful year for Mr. Whitehead. In May, he was in the news when he reportedly tried to negotiate the surrender of a man who fatally shot a Goldman Sachs employee on a Q train in broad daylight.

In July, three masked gunmen robbed Mr. Whitehead and his wife of expensive jewelry during a service at his church, Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries, which was located above a Haitian restaurant in Canarsie, Brooklyn. The service was streamed live and the video made news across the country.

He was subsequently arrested in December. The U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York said at the time that the case was being investigated by the office’s Public Corruption Unit.

A 2023 superseding indictment added a charge stemming from a $250,000 loan Mr. Whitehead took out for his company, Anointing Management Services LLC. Prosecutors said he forged bank documents for the filing, claiming the company had annual sales of $6 million. The indictment stated that Mr. Whitehead also used forged bank statements to purchase his spacious home in Paramus, NJ.

“The numbers are made up,” Mr. Wikstrom said.