Federal prosecutors began their fraud and extortion case against a high-profile Brooklyn pastor with ties to Mayor Eric Adams Monday by referring to him as a “con man” who tricked people into giving him money so he could keep up his lavish lifestyle.
Witness testimony in the case continues in federal court in Lower Manhattan Tuesday.
In her opening statement Monday, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jessica Greenwood claimed Whitehead, also known as the “Bling Bishop,” swindled $90,000 from a parishioner’s mother on false promises that he would buy her a fixer-upper home and remodel it before she moved in. Instead, the prosecutor alleged, he spent the money at Louis Vuitton, Foot Locker, Grubhub and on luxury car payments.
Prosecutors said Whitehead also allegedly tried to coerce a Bronx businessman into giving him $5,000 — and then an additional $500,000 — on false promises that Mayor Adams would treat them favorably and they could make millions of dollars.
“It was all lies,” Greenwood said.
At an unrelated press conference last week, the mayor said he was aware that his name would likely come up at trial, but said Whitehead name-dropped him to make promises without any authorization.
“People always use the names of people,” Adams said. “But the investigators made it clear that he made promises on something he could not deliver. That’s what was stated.”
Greenwood alleged Whitehead deceived lenders by including doctored bank statements in a loan application that showed he had millions of dollars in his account, when she said he actually had only $6. She claimed Whitehead lied to the FBI, too, by telling agents he had one cellphone when he really had at least two.
Whitehead pleaded not guilty and has steadfastly denied the allegations against him. He has accused his critics of painting him unfairly as a villain. His defense attorney, Dawn Florio, said during her opening statement that her client is determined to fight his charges “like Rocky Balboa and Adonis Creed” — boxers from the “Rocky” movie series.
Florio argued that the government’s case has holes in it and urged jurors to inspect the evidence just like they would inspect a house for termites — and not merely settle for something that looks nice from the curb.
“This is not an open-and-shut case,” she said.
During prosecutors’ opening statements, Whitehead sat between his attorneys, sometimes looking down with a pen in his hand and at other times glancing at the jury. He watched his lawyer intently as she provided jurors with his version of the case.
The pastor was not dressed in his typical ornate attire. In court, he wore all black: a black suit, black button-down shirt, black tie and black tortoise shell glasses.
Whitehead faces charges of wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements. If convicted, he could spend decades in prison, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. He was arrested in December 2022, just months after he made headlines when a group robbed him at gunpoint while he was delivering a sermon at his church in Canarsie.
The robbery was captured on a livestream, and footage of the incident went viral. According to the NYPD, the robbers stole more than $1 million worth of jewelry from the pastor and his wife.
Two men pleaded guilty to federal robbery charges last year and a third was killed in a shootout with law enforcement while they attempted to apprehend him in New Jersey.
Whitehead calls himself a “mentee” of the mayor, and Adams has expressed his support for the bishop in the past.
“I have always maintained relationships with people who have gone through traumatic experiences and my goal is to mentor people who go through crises,” Adams said in July 2022 before Whitehead was charged, Gothamist reported at the time. “Lamor and any other individual that I support, I continue to try to mentor. As a Black man, I have an obligation to mentor other Black men that had negative encounters in their lives and other people in general. And that’s what I will continue to do.”
The case against Whitehead is playing out in the Southern District of New York, where experts said a federal investigation is ongoing into the mayor’s 2021 campaign. Neither the mayor nor his campaign has been charged with a crime.
U.S. Attorney Damian Williams has built his career on fraud and public corruption cases, and the office has a history of bringing cases against well-known and powerful figures, including cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried, Sen. Robert Menendez and former New York State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver.
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