A new federal indictment alleges a flashy Brooklyn preacher under investigation falsified bank documents in seeking to purchase his family’s million-dollar home.
Despite evidence presented by the government, the pastor of Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries vehemently denies any wrongdoing and plans to plead not guilty.
On Wednesday, March 8, Manhattan federal prosecutors issued a new indictment against Bishop Lamor Miller Whitehead, the controversial clergyman who was robbed during service in his Canarsie church in 2022. Within the indictment, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York claimed he fabricated bank records to assist in purchasing his Paramus, New Jersey, mansion, the New York Post reported.
SDNY prosecutors allege that in an effort to obtain the mortgage for the home, Whitehead created a fake bank statement saying an LLC he controlled had over $2 million in its account.
The feds claim the 44-year-old actually had a little under $10 in the account.
“We are going to be fighting those allegations,” Whitehead’s lawyer, Dawn Florio, said after the indictment was released. “Lamor Whitehead will be pleading not guilty when he is arraigned on the … indictment and denies those charges.”
This is not the first time Whitehead has been accused of faking his bank statements for a mortgage loan. He is alleged to have tried to flip the same scheme in 2019.
Manhattan federal prosecutors wrote in the indictment Whitehead “fabricated bank records for AMS LLC, from at least in or about October 2018 up to and including … February 2019, in an effort to obtain a mortgage in excess of $1.3 million to fund [his] purchase of a home in Paramus, New Jersey.”
Federal agents have been locked in on Whitehead after detaining him in December 2022. He was originally arrested on four charges but was charged with an additional count of wire fraud connected to his Anointed Management Service, LLC.
According to the Daily News, he was accused by the feds of applying for a $250,000 business loan using the same business entity through an online bank application in June 2018.
The quarter million loan request was denied, according to the indictment. However, it is unclear if the $1.3 million mortgage for the six-bedroom and seven-bath house was ever granted.
The indictment states the documents used for the loans were from an “entirely fabricating a bank account that did not in fact exist.”
Over the past nine months, Whitehead has made national headlines.
First, the preacher hit the news when he was robbed at gunpoint during a church service live stream. After this violent altercation, the preacher reported he and his wife were robbed of $1 million worth of jewelry.
Whitehead also was in the press after one of his retired members accused him of scamming her out of $90,000 from her savings — and telling her that without a receipt the money was a gift to him.
News of another victim hit the media when one Bronx businessman alleged the preacher extorted him out of $5,000 and attempted to siphon another $500,000 from him to support his real estate endeavors. Whitehead allegedly promised to use his connections to city officials, like his mentor Mayor Eric Adams, in exchange for the half million.
In September 2022, another incident happened in his church, resulting in the preacher being picked up by police. Again, during his live stream, he left the pulpit and appeared to strangle a woman he claimed was attacking his wife. The woman claimed she was going to research the charismatic pastor and was caught up in the liveliness of the service— speaking in tongues when he leaped at her.
More drama has swirled around the bishop, including a charge that he lied to federal agents when the FBI came to his home and knocked on the door. They had a search warrant to review his personal communication devices, Whitehead told the authorities that he had no other cellphones other than the one on him. However, it was discovered that he did.
Whitehead is confident he will be vindicated, sharing with his followers that the U.S. government needs to take precautions in their investigation into his life.
However, many have condemned the clergyman amid the allegations.
“Looks like he’s heading to a Prison Mansion now,” wrote Twitter user @MakingRds.
“Lock him up and throw away the key,” User Petey Pablo wrote.
After the indictment was released, he said on Instagram Live, “For everybody that’s praying for me, thank you, man. And for everyone that wish my downfall, thank you — because the Bible says that God says, ‘I’ll make your enemies your footstool.’”
Adding, “You gotta be careful with touching a bishop; even if you feel like I’m not one, I am one. And if you become an enemy of God, right, that’s on you.”
