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A Brooklyn church leader has been sentenced to nine years in prison.
45-year-old Lamor Whitehead a.k.a. the Bling Bishop, pastor at Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries was convicted on charges of wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to federal law enforcement agents.
"Lamor Whitehead is a con man who stole millions of dollars in a string of financial frauds and even stole from one of his own parishioners," said U.S attorney, Damian Williams.
According to evidence at the trial, Whitehead allegedly induced one of his parishioners to invest approximately $90,000 of her retirement savings with him by promising to use the money to help her buy a home. Instead, he allegedly used the money to purchase luxury goods and other personal expenses. When the woman confronted him, he lied to avoid paying her back.
Whitehead was also accused of extorting a businessman for $5,000. He then attempted to get the same businessman to lend him $500,000 and give him a stake in certain real estate transactions in return for favourable actions from the Mayor of New York City, even though he knew he could not follow through.
Lamor also allegedly submitted a fraudulent application for a $250,000 business loan. Also, while FBI agents were executing a search warrant outside Whitehead's mansion in New Jersey, Lamor falsely claimed that he had no cellphones other than the one he was carrying, when, in fact, he had a second phone in the house at the time.
On top of the nine-year prison term, the United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York has also sentenced Lamor to three years of supervised release. He has also been ordered to pay $85,000 in restitution and forfeit $95,000.