The Brooklyn pastor who says he was robbed in the middle of giving his Sunday sermon stole $90,000 in retirement savings from one of his own parishioners, a lawsuit filed last year in Brooklyn Supreme Court alleges.
via: New York Post
Bishop Lamor Whitehead — who is known for flaunting his Gucci suits, diamond-encrusted chains and stable of luxury vehicles — allegedly has a history of grifting and even served time in prison for identity theft and grand larceny.
Pauline Anderson, 56, accused the Rolls-Royce-driving clergyman of convincing her to liquidate her life savings and pay him a $90,000 “investment” in November 2020 with the promise that he would buy and renovate a home for her, according to her Brooklyn Supreme Court lawsuit.
Whitehead also agreed to pay Anderson $100 per month, since the savings was her only source of income, says the suit, first reported by The City on Thursday.
Whitehead, 44, allegedly only made one of the $100 payments to Anderson in January 2021, and each time she asked about the status of her home in the following months, he repeatedly told her that he was tied up with his election campaign for Brooklyn borough president, according to the lawsuit.
Ultimately, instead of helping Anderson find a home, Whitehead used the funds as down payment on the contract to purchase a $4.4 million home for himself in Saddle River, New Jersey, the suit alleges.
Anderson — who was introduced to Whitehead through her son Rasheed Anderson in 2020 — only found out about the Saddle River home after Whitehead accidently sent an email to Rasheed about the purchase, the lawsuit says.
The Saddle River purchase didn’t go through. But Whitehead did buy a $4.5 million apartment complex in Hartford, Conn., according to The City.
Anderson said she was told she couldn’t get a mortgage because of her bad credit, which is when Whitehead stepped in with his offer to help, the lawsuit alleges.
Despite having “reservations” about handing over the hefty sum to Whitehead, Anderson went through with it “because he was a supposed man of the cloth and had previously helped her own son secure housing for himself,” the suit claims.
He later allegedly told her that he was investing the cash in his company, and had no obligation to pay it back, according to the suit.
“Ms. Anderson was instead left with nothing but a vague promise by Mr. Whitehead to pay the funds back in the future followed by an assertion that he had no further obligation to do so,” the filing charges.
Anderson is seeking $1 million in damages for Whitehead’s “morally reprehensible acts” and for “losing her entire life savings,” the filing claims.
The case is still pending.
Whitehead has not filed any papers in the case nor has any lawyer appeared on his behalf, court records show.
The flamboyant pastor has had ties to Mayor Eric Adams since at least 2013 and last made headlines in May when he tried to negotiate the surrender of an accused subway shooter and claimed to have spoken with Hizzoner while the suspect was on the loose.
On Sunday, Whitehead was accosted during services at the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Canarsie by three gun-wielding men who made off with a treasure trove of items, including a $75,000 Rolex watch.
He later defended his lifestyle, saying that his public displays of wealth didn’t lead to the gunpoint robbery, as critics suggested his “blinged-out’’ look could have made him an outsize target.
Whitehead did not immediately return a message left at the congregation Thursday.
Anderson’s lawyers declined to comment since the lawsuit is still pending.
