Bishop Lamor Whitehead was robbed of greater than $1 million price of knickknack in July when armed gunmen entered his church throughout a service. He is now going through federal fraud costs in an unrelated case.

Mary Altaffer/AP

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Mary Altaffer/AP

Bishop Lamor Whitehead was robbed of greater than $1 million price of knickknack in July when armed gunmen entered his church throughout a service. He is now going through federal fraud costs in an unrelated case.

Mary Altaffer/AP

Brooklyn-based Bishop Lamor Whitehead, who turned identified nationally this summer time after getting robbed throughout a livestreamed church service, is going through wire fraud and extortion costs in an unrelated case.

Whitehead, 45, is going through two counts of wire fraud, one rely of extortion, and one other for making false statements for crimes allegedly dedicated towards one in every of his parishioners and a businessman, federal prosecutors announced.

Whitehead, identified for his costly garments, automobiles and different flashy shows of wealth, leads the Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches in New York City. In July, Whitehead and his spouse had been robbed of $1 million in jewellery after armed gunmen entered their church.

People criticized Whitehead for his luxurious way of life following this incident. Others even questioned whether or not the theft was actual. Two men were later arrested for the theft, nonetheless.

Following the information of the federal costs introduced towards him, Whitehead claimed his innocence in a 15-minute long Instagram video posted on Tuesday.

In the video, Whitehead sits in entrance of two smiling portraits of himself and says, “The bishop is not guilty. And I’m going to fight it. I have the right legal team, and more importantly, I have God.”

“Ain’t nothing changed. I’m still the same bishop,” he mentioned. “And I’ll say it again. Just because you were arrested doesn’t make you guilty. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. I’m telling you all. You drunk it already. Don’t drink it again. Give it time.”

Prosecutors allege Whitehead used threats and lies to get cash from people, which he then spent on luxurious objects for himself.

In April 2020 till round July 2021, Whitehead allegedly satisfied one in every of his parishioners to take a position roughly $90,000 of her retirement financial savings. This was carried out with the promise that the bishop would assist her discover a dwelling and use a few of the cash to put money into his actual property companies.

Instead, Whitehead used her cash for himself, in line with the indictment towards him.

In a separate incident, the indictment claims that Whitehead pushed an unnamed businessman handy over massive sums of money. Sometime within the spring of 2022, Whitehead allegedly inspired the businessman to present the church chief $500,000 and a stake in sure actual property transactions. In return, the person was advised he would obtain “favorable actions” from the New York City authorities that might enrich each Whitehead and himself, prosecutors mentioned.

Whitehead additionally lied to FBI brokers once they had been executing a search warrant, prosecutors mentioned. Allegedly, the pastor falsely claimed he had no different cellphones apart from the one he was carrying on the time. In reality, Whitehead did personal a second cellphone, which he used frequently — together with to ship a textual content message describing it as “my other phone” simply after telling the brokers he had no different telephones, prosecutors mentioned.

Each rely of wire fraud and extortion, three in whole, carries a most sentence for 20 years in jail. Making materials false statements carries a most sentence of 5 years in jail.