The Scandalous Life and Many Scams of Bishop Lamor Whitehead | Documentary

God chose me to be a preacher I ain't y'all think I want to be a preacher you think I want to I don't get paid from preaching you y'all think I wanna know I have to follow my call because let me tell y'all something of who Bishop Whitehead is right let me tell you who Bishop Whitehead is Bishop Whitehead is going to say it like he's like he want to say it and I'm gonna tell it like it is cause I ain't scared of none of y'all he dresses in designer suits drives a Rolls-Royce and preaches regularly to his 1.5 million Instagram followers while referring to himself in third person but he's not a wealthy businessman or influencer in his own words Bishop Whitehead is the goat when it comes to Faith and Ministry behind the rags to Rich's story he would have his followers believe is a skilled con man with a dark past a past that includes using love to steal what police believed was millions of dollars Landing him in federal prison but the bishop didn't leave prison a reformed man his cons are still going on today including on the most vulnerable of his congregation confrontation during a Sunday sermon in Brooklyn landed two people behind bars including a bishop who argues he was protecting his family this is the story of the scandalous life of the Brooklyn Bishop LaMore Whitehead [Music] before we begin a quick note about the sponsor of this video care of care of is a subscription service that ships high quality personalized vitamins supplements and powders to your door every month care of products are made from good for you clean ingredients that are backed by the latest science and research so you can feel good about what you're putting in your body care of packs are made from a plant-based film that makes them compostable if you have trouble deciding what vitamins you need or get overwhelmed by the process Care of's quiz takes all the guesswork out of building your routine the easy quiz asks you questions about your diet lifestyle and health goals take care of quiz and see what vitamins and supplements they recommend for you since taking the products care of sent me including their electrolytes B vitamins and probiotic blend I've appreciated more sustained energy levels and felt good knowing I'm using quality ingredients that have been ethically harvested and third-party tested click on the link below and use my code not the good girl for fifty percent off your first order with care of thank you to care of for sponsoring this video I really appreciate the support [Music] LaMore Whitehead was born in 1978 to a loving mother and father but tragedy struck lamore's life when he was only six weeks old when his father was killed in a violent police altercation during a routine traffic stop after that LaMore and his siblings were raised by their mother despite the adversity Lamour excelled at school and was a gifted athlete when he graduated high school he was offered scholarships to Shaw University Farmingdale university and Eastern New Mexico University eventually Eastern New Mexico won out and Lamour enrolled on accounting and videography courses after returning to New York Lamour opened his own business as a mortgage broker it was around this time he claimed he felt an Awakening to his true purpose that purpose was Ministry and he enrolled in further studies at the New York Theological Seminary he completed a certificate in Ministry and Human Services from the theological institution of rising hope Inc an accredited Institution after finishing his studies he became a licensed New York State chaplain and a certified marriage and funeral officiant so far lamore's story sounds like that of an intelligent man who felt called to serve a higher purpose he had overcome the trials of his childhood and the challenges of the community where he was raised and he wanted to inspire those who are struggling and show them a path to Redemption through his God but behind the facade Lamour was using his talents for something much more sinister in 2005 a woman in the New York County of Suffolk reported that her name had been fraudulently used to buy a motorcycle it only took a couple of days for police to spot the motorcycle and when they pulled it over the driver identified himself as LaMore Whitehead when investigators looked a little closer at L'Amour and the apparent identity theft of the woman they were able to connect the events to a string of other similar cases starting in 2004 officers in the same New York County of Suffolk had received complaints from multiple residents who claimed their identities had been stolen all of the reports had one thing in common the stolen identities had been used to secure financing for the purchase of vehicles many of them Range Rovers and motorbikes as the number of victims began to grow the police department determined there was more than one person involved so they established a theft Investigation Unit in the hopes of tracking down the perpetrators while it wasn't always the same person who used the stolen identity the investigation revealed that one lead person was behind the scheme LaMore Whitehead this is how the scheme went down during the years the identity theft was taking place LaMore was dating a woman who worked at a Long Island car dealership part of her job was running credit reports on customers who needed financing in order to buy a vehicle to do so she had access to almost all of the customers personal information including their social security numbers bank accounts credit history and home addresses lamore's girlfriend kept the login details for her work computer sitting on her desk at home and while showering her with compliments gifts and nice dinners LaMore was secretly using her login info to access the customer's personal information and take out loans and lines of credit in their names L'Amour used the loans to buy nice cars and motorbikes as well as to deck himself out in designer threads and Jewelry overnight LaMore had gone from a humble Brooklyn Born and Raised chaplain to a high roller who splurged on gifts and gadgets he put his wealth down to his success as a mortgage broker but identity theft wasn't the only scam LaMore was running he was still working as a mortgage broker when he realized that not only did he have access to easy targets through his girlfriend he was sitting on a gold mine of personal information himself his job meant that he had access to the same information about each of his clients as well he knew exactly what they were worth and he knew exactly how much more they could borrow armed with this knowledge Lamour reached out to one of the clients he previously helped secure a mortgage for and made him a proposal telling him quote you give me two hundred thousand dollars and I will give you back 225 000 in 30 days it sounded like easy money and the client had already been impressed by Lamour when they worked on the mortgage deal he trusted him so the client agreed to the arrangement and took out a two hundred thousand dollar loan against the home he had just purchased he didn't tell his family about the arrangement as he wanted to surprise them with a special gift when the twenty five thousand dollars came through it will come as no surprise that 30 days came and went without the original loan or the agreed interest being paid one day in 2006 26 year old Lamar was driving a stolen Land Rover down Riverside Drive in Manhattan when police lights appeared in his rearview mirror after pulling over he was quickly surrounded by officers many who made up the theft Investigation Unit established one year prior and he was arrested on multiple charges of identity theft Suffolk detective Sergeant Stephen Jensen described lamour's outfit at the time as a pimp style red and white mink coat after the arrest police searched lamour's half a million dollar home officers found multiple laptops cell phones a stolen weapon and a bulletproof vest all of which they believed were tools L'Amour used to carry out his crimes he was subsequently charged with illegal possession of a firearm but the identity theft and Firearms charges were merely a speed bump on the Moore's road to riches despite the indictment Lamour was released on ninety thousand dollars bail and set free to do as he pleased and it pleased him to keep on scheming that was until 2008 when he was finally taken into custody to stand trial by then he had been charged with 10 counts of identity fraud relating to more than five hundred thousand dollars worth of loans ultimately Lamour was convicted on 17 counts of identity theft and sentenced to 10 to 30 years in prison as other victims came forward the prosecutor in the case later stated they believed lamour's fraud could total more than two million dollars but after spending less than six years behind bars and being described as an ideal inmate LaMore Whitehead was released from prison in 2013 and the bishop was just getting started [Music] I have a calling and I had to do what I had to do as soon as I came home it was on these were the words of the bishop who was newly released from prison and promising Redemption only weeks after leaving prison Lamour set up his own church called The Leaders of Tomorrow Ministries his congregation started with 43 worshipers who came to his home to hear his inspiring sermons about rising up from where you came from and achieving financial success through God's power lamore's form of preaching has been referred to as the Prosperity Gospel which emphasizes the material benefits one can achieve through a relationship with God whereas other forms of Christianity preach humility and giving what you have to help others Lamour preached about proudly demonstrating your affluence as a means to attract others to God in this one aspect Lamour practiced what he preached he would stand at the front of his congregation wearing tailored designer suits with chains of gold and diamonds hanging from his neck he had a garage full of various high-powered luxury and sports cars so where did the money come from lemore got it exactly where any self-respecting designer wearing Prophet would get it his congregation well some of it at the end of each sermon L'Amour would hold up a stack of empty envelopes and invite his followers to bid on an envelope to the value they wanted to sow he told them that the more they sowed the more they would reap in return whether it was fifty dollars five hundred or five thousand dollars there seemed to be no shortage of people willing to donate to his fund but even if every one of the 43 members in his church gave him an envelope full of cash his clothing and lifestyle far exceeded the amount he was being given one Gucci or Louis Vuitton suit with matching shoes can easily cost ten thousand dollars and that doesn't account for the jewelry or the cars so where did he earn the rest of the cash to fund his lifestyle in early 2020 56 year old Pauline Anderson had The Misfortune to cross paths with Bishop Lamor Whitehead when she attended one of lamour's sermons she saw A well-dressed wealthy Pastor tell the congregation how they could and should get rich through God and him four months after joining the church Pauline underwent a major surgery and received a get well soon phone call from the pastor just a few months later Pauline received another call from the man and this time he wanted to talk about money Pauline had always wanted to buy herself a home for her and her family but her credit score had taken some hits over the years and she was turned down by every lender she approached despite having a deposit saved she was never able to secure a loan enter her savior LaMore Whitehead LaMore told her about his experience with mortgage broking and offered her a solution to her credit problem in exchange for her deposit he would buy a home in her name through his company LaMore Whitehead Inc LaMore assured Pauline that her deposit would cover the house and any repairs it needed and would also leave a little bit left over which he would return to her with some interest Pauline had no job after having surgery and the deposit was everything she had to her name including her retirement fund although LaMore had helped her son buy a home she was still cautious of doing business with the bishop to put her worries to rest LaMore offered her a 100 monthly stipend which he would pay until she moved into her new home that promise did the trick and on the 30th of November of 2020 Pauline wrote a check to l'amour's business for ninety thousand dollars for six months Pauline never received a single 100 monthly stipend and heard nothing about her new home despite constantly contacting LaMore for an update every time she did manage to get through to him he would tell her he was too busy with his campaign running for Brooklyn Borough president by mid-2021 Pauline suspected that there was never going to be any house but she knew for sure this was the case when her son received an interesting email from LaMore Pauline had been introduced to Lamour by her son Rasheed Rasheed had supported his mom in investing in lamour's company but when he realized Pauline was being scammed he was the one who attempted to convince LaMore to give the money back Rasheed repeatedly texted and emailed the more until one day he got a reply but it wasn't the reply he expected LaMore had accidentally sent an email regarding a down payment on a 4.5 million dollar home in Saddle River to Rasheed the email outlined some details about the down payment on the home the amount discussed would have been more than enough to repay his mother's investment but when he told them more about the email and demanded that he returned Pauline's money he received a text from LaMore that said quote I'm in awe of how the devil is using you however I knew it was coming now Beware of the hand of judgment will hit your life and everything that's connected to you and for the record anything that was given to me is a donation unless it's attached to a contract I was making Investments that's what I do in 2021 a federal lawsuit was filed against Lamour Whitehead for his part in fleecing Pauline of her life savings but it wasn't only Pauline that he had taken advantage of the lawsuit also indicted Lamour on charges of using Force to try and get a businessman to pay him five thousand dollars Lamour also attempted to get the same businessman to lend him half a million dollars and give him a stake in high-end real estate transactions when Lamar was asked for a statement about the lawsuit he claimed that Pauline and Rasheed were only going after him because of his celebrity status saying quote everybody that tried to sue me because of my Celebrity Status is just gonna keep going in and trying to do what they do Lamour reiterated that he invested her money as agreed and that there was never an agreement to buy her a home but we aren't at the strangest part of the story yet call it karma divine intervention or just bad luck but Pauline's lawsuit may never have made it into headlines if it wasn't for the day that Bishop Whitehead was robbed while in the middle of preaching a sermon [Music] lamora's history of shady dealings and the true source of His abundant wealth might never have been known if it hadn't been for the events of July 24th 2022. on that day Lamour rolled up to his service in a Rolls-Royce one of his favorite vehicles he stood in front of the congregation wearing a maroon velvet robe with gold cuffs designer loafers rings on most of his fingers and a thick gold chain around his neck his sermon was being live streamed and he opened with a line quote how many of you have lost your faith because you saw somebody else die only moments later the live stream showed three people dressed in black and holding weapons entering the church and demanding everyone hand over their valuables the group moved through the congregation and removed jewelry from lamore's wife who was sitting in the front row holding their young child another person held their weapon to lamore's head while they pulled each ring from every little finger and then took the diamond chain around his neck the thieves left just as quickly as they came LaMore claims that they got away with more than one million dollars worth of jewelry including a Cuban chain link chain valued at 399 thousand dollars and a Rolex watch worth seventy five thousand dollars Flynn Bishop was robbed at gunpoint in the middle of his Sunday sermon today and it was all caught on camera the service was being live streamed this morning when he says three to four men walked in with guns he spoke at length with CBS 2's Lisa Rosner about why he believes he was targeted and his message for the suspects five to ten minutes into preaching Sunday morning on Remsen Avenue in Canarsie Bishop Lamar Whitehead saw the door in the back of the room kick open how many of you have lost your faith because you saw somebody else die what you about to go through yo yo all right right all right I seen three to four men come in that's all right all right it's pretty much stating that I don't want I'm not going to do anything right because I know y'all coming from me y'all coming straight to me I don't want my parishion is hurt right I got um women and children there as I got down one went to my wife and took all her jury and um and had a gun in front of my eight-month-old baby's face um took off my Bishop's ring my um my wedding band and took off my Bishop's chain and then I had chains underneath my robe um and um he started tapping my neck to see if anything else so that means they knew they watched and they knew that I have other jury the church's live stream shows the gun being held on the pastor they had the guns on the on my deacons that was at the door Whitehead says what you don't see on camera are around 100 congregants who were in the room men women and children dropped to the floor in silence my church is traumatized the women and children are still crying still crying babies are still crying police say the men took off in a white Mercedes Whitehead says cops have a license plate and Witnesses saw the men change clothes outside these men they need to turn themselves in I forgive you and I'm praying for you you know and I hope that God deliver you from the mindset of Who You Are the video of the robbery quickly went viral online and brought a whole new level of attention to the Crooked Bishop many people claimed that the theft was a setup by L'Amour for media attention or an insurance scam he ran to get a cash payout the idea that LaMore was running another scheme was Amplified when Lamour repeatedly reenacted the robbery during his live stream sermons for weeks after the event he warned that other pastors were in danger and that they should always be armed when doing the Lord's work LaMore told his followers and those watching online quote the devil didn't want me back in this Pulpit God said you can't take his life you can touch his material things but you can't touch his soul I'm a miracle I'm not supposed to be here today everybody wants to talk about what the tabloids are talking about and forget about the miracle end quote the rumors of a setup or an insurance scheme fell apart once officials confirmed the robbery was legit ultimately two men were arrested and charged at the time of this recording the third suspect is still at large after being Vindicated of the robbery Lamour filed two 20 million dollar lawsuits against Critics on social media who had previously claimed he was involved in the robbery he later filed an additional suit this time for 50 million dollars against a radio DJ for similar comments but the unintended consequence of that viral video was the spotlight that was put on the self-proclaimed bling Bishop even with the charges against the robbers filed no one could understand how a supposed man of God could be so self-assured in his displays of wealth when the people he was preaching to were from struggling neighborhoods LaMore fills his Instagram with shots of his tailored designer suits his cars and jewelry collection Which is far removed from his disadvantaged parishioners LaMore remained in the spotlight after another sermon went off script in September 2022 while LaMore was at the pulpit two women entered the church in the middle of his sermon they were in the back but LaMore called them out for interrupting and one of the women began yelling back and walking towards the front of the church Lamour can be seen in the live stream of the service grabbing the woman by the back of her head and pushing her off camera while he yelled grab her grab her the police were called and when they arrived they handcuffed L'Amour in front of the congregation he was told he would be charged with assault however after being taken to the police station it was the woman who faced arrest the woman Tarsha Howard was later charged with trespassing and disrupting a religious service she claimed that she was there to research a book she was writing about the role of the church and the black community when lemore called her a wannabe blogger who just wanted to bring him down with the woman's arrest Lamour was Vindicated once again and just like every time prior he used the attention to further paint himself as the victim not the villain in his life story he told the media quote they lock me up in front of my children in front of my wife in front of my church they publicly embarrassed me and then dropped all the charges after two hours and apologized to me all I want to do is preach the word of God and I end up in prison he said they treated me like a criminal they had me in a cell with someone with felony charges and let me out it's not going to stop here if I was a rabbi if I was a Catholic priest they would have never done this end quote confrontation during a Sunday sermon in Brooklyn landed two people behind bars including a bishop who argues he was protecting his family CBS 2's Jenna DeAngelo spoke with both people involved and has the video from Canarsie we gonna pause right here during a live stream Sunday service that Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries Bishop Lamar Miller Whitehead appears to get disrupted You're Gonna Come preach you wanna come preach you wanna come preach come on up here come on up here the bishop says it all started when two women came into the church mid-sermon one of my ministers told them that you cannot record you can't record and they began to make a scene police say when a woman was asked to stop recording and leave she began to antagonize the bishop and approach him on stage they take pictures and they want to be on social media take the pictures take the pitches as she walks past Bishop Whitehead he appears to grab her from behind and they move off camera we've seen her walk in front of me going at my wife and my daughter and I grabbed her he says he was worried about his family and thinking back to the moment in July when he was robbed at gunpoint during a sermon streamed live online that's the only thing that I could remember this lady had a bag under her arm and she was going after my wife the woman in the video 47 year old Tarsha Howard was arrested and charged with trespass and disrupting a religious service she showed us her injury and made a brief statement I am telling you right now that I did not charge after his wife it's on video and everyone can see that I was the one that was assaulted and after this statement he will hear from my attorney the bishop was also taken into custody but shortly after released now criticizing the nypd's handling of the incident I was treated like a criminal so I went from the pulpit to the cell for no reason the New York Police Department failed me and failed my church the video and subsequent media coverage of Lamour reignited the question where did he get all the money in the first place when reporters picked up the story after the viral video of the robbery and the potential assault charges they attempted to get a statement from Lamour they tracked him down to a 9 000 square foot mansion in New Jersey complete with six bedrooms and seven bathrooms plenty of room for his wife and three kids but when they showed up they found an eviction notice taped to the front door it appeared that LaMore had defaulted on his mortgage as well as his car payments and he had hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Court judgments against him with no sign of the lawsuit's ending remember the client who loaned LaMore two hundred thousand dollars which he had borrowed against his own home he filed a lawsuit against Lamour to get his money back a court judgment ordered Lamour to repay the man a total of 261 thousand dollars there is also a lawsuit filed against him from the developers of a 1.6 million dollar house he had defaulted on in New Jersey it turns out Lamour had used his powers of persuasion to convince the developers that they should issue him a short-term loan of a hundred twenty six thousand dollars and he would pay them back with a business check for a hundred sixty four thousand but the check bounced and their efforts to collect the original loan amount were met with radio silence so the developers filed a lawsuit in an effort to recoup some of the debt from Lamour in that judgment the developers were awarded 335 thousand dollars then in 2019 LaMore stopped making payments on his Mercedes-Benz and Range Rover the company filed a lawsuit that ended with a sixty eight thousand dollar judgment against Lamour and if that wasn't enough in 2021 L'Amour unsuccessfully ran for Brooklyn Borough president he came last in the race with Just 4 000 votes but one of the staffers who worked for him on his campaign claimed that he had loaned 56 000 of his own money to Lamour which has never been repaid that staffer has since filed a lawsuit seeking repayment of the money at the time of this recording all the amounts I just read that were ordered by a judge against Lamour remain outstanding as for lamore's narrative on his history he has never really addressed the charges or allegations or lawsuits against him except through his lawyer who just repeats that LaMore will be vigorously defending the allegations and that LaMore feels he is being targeted and turned into a villain from a victim but if you read the Moore's bio on his Church website you'll hear an entirely different version of events than those corroborated by court documents LaMore claims that the initial arrest for fraud was illegal it wasn't he claims that he was released from prison after six years because his conviction was overturned it wasn't and that the source of his income is real estate investing and pastoring that remains questionable LaMore also claims to have close relationships with prominent businessmen lawyers politicians and judges whom he claims seek out his advice as well as his endorsement during their election processes he also considers the mayor of New York Eric Adams a personal friend interestingly the mayor has distanced himself from L'Amour after being told about lamour's checkered past and when questioned by the media called L'Amour a previous mentee of his in December of 2022 L'Amour was released on a 500 000 Bond while he awaits trial for the federal fraud charges brought against him at the time of this recording he can not travel out of the tri-state area but he does continue to preach mainly virtually from the comfort of his mansion he still has his designer suits and limited jewelry collection to keep him company for now his court date has been set for April 11th of 2023. there is one thing that upsets L'Amour though he claims that he should have received more media coverage for the robbery stating quote I represent that with Jesus you can go through the storm I think I should get the front page you don't think I should get it I think I was the face of the year end quote this has been the story of the scandalous Brooklyn bishop and con man Lamour Whitehead [Music] if you are a fan of learning about scams Cults and cautionary tales subscribe to the channel and turn on notifications so you'll be notified when a new documentary comes out my name is Josie and thank you so much for watching [Music] thank you foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: NOT THE GOOD GIRL

Views: 883,493

Keywords: bishop lamor whitehead, brooklyn, mayor adams, scam, pastor, international ministries of tomorrow

Id: PejyUborC3c

Length: 32min 40sec (1960 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 12 2023