Lamor Whitehead, the flamboyant Brooklyn preacher who was convicted of defrauding a parishioner’s mother and attempting to commit extortion, was sentenced to nine years in prison by a federal judge in Manhattan on Monday.
Mr. Whitehead, known as “the bling bishop,” was already in custody after Judge Lorna G. Schofield revoked his bail last month, admonishing him for making false statements about law enforcement officials and his victims on social media. Prosecutors have said that after his conviction in March, he had even tried to sell legal documents from his case online.
“I don’t see any remorse for your conduct,” the judge told Mr. Whitehead on Monday after he delivered a rambling monologue asking for her mercy. She added that he did not appear to appreciate the impact of his crimes — or the basic facts of the case.
Two of Mr. Whitehead’s victims, his former acolyte Rasheed Anderson and Mr. Anderson’s mother, Pauline Anderson, addressed the judge before she rendered her sentence.
Ms. Anderson, a nurse, broke down as she described how she had spent a lifetime working only to lose $90,000 from her retirement savings when she gave it to Mr. Whitehead to help her achieve her dream of buying a home.
“I lost everything I had worked for,” she said, adding later that the betrayal “broke my heart, my spirit and my soul.”
In a memo to the judge before the sentencing, prosecutors argued that Mr. Whitehead was a “career con man and liar” who had committed fraud for more than two decades. They said he had abused his position as a religious leader to rake in millions, much of which he spent on fancy clothes and luxury cars.
Mr. Whitehead’s conviction, in March, related to conduct beginning in 2018. He was found guilty of five counts related to defrauding financial institutions and the Andersons, trying to extort the owner of a Bronx auto body shop and lying to federal agents.
Mr. Whitehead, 46, who was robbed of jewelry at gunpoint during a live-streamed church service in 2022, had boasted of ties to Mayor Eric Adams, who previously served as Brooklyn borough president. Mr. Whitehead had sought to cultivate Mr. Adams as a mentor, but text messages shown during the trial revealed that Mr. Adams had sought to distance himself, reprimanding Mr. Whitehead for creating conflict or sometimes not responding at all. The mayor was not accused of wrongdoing.
Among the panoply of charges, the case of Pauline Anderson stood out. Ms. Anderson had met Mr. Whitehead in 2020 through her son when he was a volunteer at Mr. Whitehead’s Brooklyn church. Rasheed Anderson went on to work for the church, and Mr. Whitehead helped him to buy a home and officiated at Mr. Anderson’s wedding. Eventually, Pauline Anderson gave tens of thousands of dollars from her retirement account to Mr. Whitehead, believing that he would help her buy a home too.
Instead, prosecutors said, Mr. Whitehead used the money for shopping sprees at Polo and Louis Vuitton and payments on a BMW. When she asked for the money back, he lied and then threatened her, they said.
Mr. Anderson, 30, said that his mother was a hardworking single parent from Jamaica who helped support many relatives, always putting herself last. Now, family members are digging into savings to defend themselves in a lawsuit filed by Mr. Whitehead, he said.
“I was used and taken advantage of, and because of that I have to see my mother suffer because of Lamor Whitehead’s deceit,” he told Judge Schofield.
In another episode that led to extortion charges, a Bronx businessman, Brandon Belmonte, wore a wire at the behest of the F.B.I. to record Mr. Whitehead’s threats. In those recordings, Mr. Whitehead said that he had “the key to the city” and that he could procure favors from Mr. Adams, including getting permits to operate affordable housing or lifting stop-work orders at construction sites. Those claims were false, the prosecutors said.
“Bishop Whitehead is in my prayers,” the mayor said when asked about the sentencing Monday.
Mr. Whitehead’s lawyers had argued that he should be freed immediately and allowed to remain on supervised release.
His lawyer Dawn Florio argued that he was a man of faith who had done many charitable works and even sought to go into public service himself — as Brooklyn borough president. Numerous parishioners from his church, Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries, wrote letters to the court praising him.
Ms. Florio also argued that Mr. Whitehead probably has post-traumatic stress disorder from the live-streamed robbery two years ago. Two men pleaded guilty in that crime and are scheduled to be sentenced in August. A third man charged in the heist died in a shootout with U.S. marshals who had gone to arrest him in New Jersey in January.
But prosecutors from the office of Damian Williams, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, also pointed to Mr. Whitehead’s past as they argued for a tougher punishment. In 2008, he was convicted of several charges of identity theft for a scheme involving loans for cars and motorcycles secured in other people’s names. He served five years in prison in that case.
“This defendant has repeatedly committed serious crimes and repeatedly cast the blame for them on everyone but himself,” the prosecutors wrote in their presentencing filing.
Mr. Whitehead’s comments to the judge focused on his work in poor neighborhoods in Brooklyn. He mentioned the names of police officials and elected officials he said he had worked with on gun buybacks, youth programs and “untold turkey giveaways” for Thanksgiving.
“I am a pillar of the community,” he said.
Outside the courtroom afterward, Rasheed Anderson said the family had thought Mr. Whitehead would get an even longer sentence, but that he hoped it would lead to his mother’s finally recouping her hard-earned money.
“It has been a traumatic event for all of us,” he said. “This is our first step toward closure.”
Jeffery C. Mays contributed reporting.
Karen Zraick covers federal law enforcement, courts and criminal justice and is based in New York. More about Karen Zraick
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