Bishop Lamor Whitehead, the blinged-out Brooklyn pastor who made headlines in 2022 when he obtained robbed throughout Sunday service, has reportedly been convicted in Manhattan federal courtroom of defrauding a parishioner, amongst different counts.
On Monday (March 11), the self-proclaimed bishop and actual property investor was additionally discovered responsible of tried extortion, wire fraud and mendacity to the F.B.I., per The New York Occasions. A jury took round three hours to achieve a verdict after prosecutors argued he pressured victims to provide him cash. As well as, he was accused of bragging about entry to New York Metropolis Mayor Eric Adams.
In the course of the trial, the courtroom heard that Whitehead persuaded a parishioner to speculate round $90,000 with him to purchase a home earlier than spending the cash on himself, paying for luxurious items and different gadgets. In courtroom, Whitehead tried guilty his parishioner’s son for the loss.
“He was a person of God,” sufferer Pauline Anderson mentioned of Bishop Whitehead whereas sobbing. “I believed him because the chief of his church.”
Moreover, prosecutors claimed Whitehead misrepresented his relationship with the mayor to persuade a neighborhood enterprise proprietor to lend him $500,000.
“He was mendacity in regards to the entry, he was mendacity in regards to the affect, he was mendacity about all of it,” the prosecutor mentioned in his closing argument.
Decide Lorna G. Schofield is about to condemn Whitehead on July 1. He might face many years of jail time.
In the meantime, Whitehead can also be embroiled in a $360 million lawsuit with controversial YouTube character Tasha Okay. In November, Whitehead’s lawyer requested a decide to take away him from the case, citing abuse and non-payment.