Feds: Put rev. con in jumpsuit
Push for judge to jail ‘Bling Bishop’ now
The feds want to throw convicted fraudster “Bling Bishop” Lamor Whitehead in jail before his July sentencing because he allegedly flashed confidential case documents in a video and used a Bible verse to make a veiled threat against one of his victims.
Prosecutors said Monday that Whitehead — who was found guilty in March of fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI in the bilking an elderly woman out of $90,000 in retirement savings, among other things — broke a restraining order when he showed off several documents in the April 30 video.
They said in Manhattan federal court that the flamboyant Brooklyn pastor also used a Bible psalm to make veiled threats against Pauline Anderson, the woman he scammed.
“Touch not my anointed,” Whitehead, 45, allegedly said, quoting Psalms 105, during a livestreamed service. The Old Testament scripture can loosely be translated to Whitehead believing he’s beyond criticism as a pastor.
“The court ought to remand Mr. Whitehead,” a prosecutor told
Judge Lorna G. Schofield at a Monday hearing. “He cannot be trusted.”
Whitehead rebutted the claims in court, where he wore an $1,100 Burberry reversible corduroytrimmed quilted shell, checked cotton jacket and $700 Louis Vuitton loafers, and carried a $1,500 Fendi Zucca-patterned rucksack.
Claims he’s fashion vic
“I did not willfully try to disturb any protective order,” he told Schofield, adding that the press has ruined his reputation by skewering his fashion choices. “I was ridiculed because of a designer jacket. My character has been destroyed.”
He also claimed he thought the documents had been unsealed following the conclusion of his trial.
“I didn’t know those documents would put me in this position.”
Schofield will decide the issued next Monday.
Whitehead, of the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie, convinced Anderson to invest her retirement money in a house he claimed he’d buy for her, then fix up. Instead, he spent the money on personal luxuries, prosecutors said.