In today’s episode of These Handcuffs Ain’t Even Gucci, Bishop Lamor Whitehead, the flashy pastor who was robbed at gunpoint during a live-streamed sermon, has been arrested on federal fraud and extortion charges.
Source: Prince Williams / Getty
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, the head of Brooklyn’s Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries church was charged Monday with “defrauding one of his parishioners out of part of her retirement savings, attempting to extort and defraud a businessman, and lying to the FBI.”
The arrest comes after the parishioner’s accusations were exposed in a lengthy piece with The City.
“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 U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, according to a DOJ press release. “His campaign of fraud and deceit stops now.”
FBI Assistant Director Michael J. Driscoll echoed the same sentiments saying: “As we allege today, Whitehead carried out several duplicitous schemes in order to receive funds from his victims. Additionally, when speaking with authorities, Whitehead consciously chose to mislead and lie to them. If you are willing to attempt to obtain funds through false promises or threats, the FBI will ensure that you are made to face the consequences for your actions in our criminal justice system.”
Whitehead has been adamant that he’s not the unholy scammer in designer robes and jewelry that he’s been rumored as being—so much so that he’s out here furiously filing lawsuits against people who say otherwise—but the reputation he’s been trying so hard to evade continues to precede him.
So, now, Whitehead stands accused of swindling approximately $90,000 in retirement savings from one parishioner in order to buy himself luxury items, which might explain why he’s known for standing behind the pulpit looking like he just slipped, fell, and rolled around Jay-Z’s closet.
Source: Johnny Nunez / Getty
Additionally, Whitehead is accused of extorting $5,000 from a businessman and then trying to get that same businessman to lend him $500,000 in exchange “for favorable actions from the New York City government, which Whitehead knew he could not obtain,” according to prosecutors, who also allege that he also lied about having multiple cellphones during the execution of a search warrant.
(He must have thought his name was Bishop Walter Whitehead. That was a pretty obscure Breaking Bad reference, so don’t feel bad if it’s over your head.)
We can probably expect that Whitehead will continue to climb up on the cross and proclaim his innocence, but damn, that man is either an alleged victim or alleged perpetrator every time his name is in the news, isn’t he?
