Lamor Whitehead, a bishop at Leaders of Tomorrow International Churches in Canarsie, is accused of persuading 56-year-old Pauline Anderson to invest nearly all of her life savings in one of his businesses — with the promise that he could help her buy a home despite her bad credit history, court documents say. Anderson wrote Whitehead a cashier’s check for $90,000 in November 2020 and relied on him to give her $100 in monthly allowances to pay for her living expenses, according to the lawsuit. After months went by in early 2021 with no monthly payments or progress on the housing market, Whitehead reportedly told Anderson she was treating her investment as a donation to his then-Brooklyn mayoral campaign. He said he was under no obligation to return it. “Sir. Whitehead fraudulently induced Ms. Anderson to liquidate all of her life savings to pay him her $90,000.00 ‘investment’, promising to use the funds to purchase and renovate a home for her.” , the lawsuit alleges. “Ma’am. Instead, Anderson was left with nothing but a vague promise from Mr. Whitehead to repay the funds in the future, followed by an assertion that he was under no further obligation to do so.” Anderson declined to comment through a family member, who said Anderson did not want to talk because the trial is still pending. Whitehead, who had a close relationship with Mayor Eric Adams when Adams served as Brooklyn borough president, did not respond to a message left at his church Wednesday. He previously served time in state prison following convictions for identity fraud and grand theft. The video that went viral on Sunday shows three men dressed in black robbing Whitehead and his wife of their expensive jewelry in the middle of his sermon shortly after 11am. One of the men is seen putting a gun to Whitehead’s back as he picks up the jewelry, which is valued at between $400,000 and $1 million. Whitehead, a pastor known for Instagram videos displaying his high taste in cars, clothes and real estate, offered $50,000 for information leading to the arrest of the alleged robbers. The NYPD released surveillance video Wednesday showing the three alleged robbers crossing the street just before entering Whitehead’s small Canarsie church.
Looking for a home
Anderson’s son, Rashid Anderson, was the one who introduced her to Whitehead shortly after he became a parishioner at the church in January 2020, the lawsuit states. She had just recovered from life-threatening surgery and Whitehead had offered to join her on a phone call to pray for her health. In July 2020, Anderson contacted Whitehead about her desire to buy a home, asking him for help in dealing with her bad credit history and getting help locating a home. Whitehead had earlier helped Rasheed secure housing, court documents say. Whitehead soon had Anderson on the phone with two lenders who told Anderson she would have trouble getting a loan to buy a house. That’s when he offered to help her himself if she invested her money in his company, Lamor Whitehead Inc. Court documents say she expressed reservations because she had no income other than savings when Whitehead offered to give her $100 a month in benefits while he looked for a suitable home to buy. He received no receipt for the $90,000 cashier’s check he wrote to Lamor Whitehead Inc in November 2020, according to the court filing. After the first monthly allowance was paid in January 2021, Whitehead essentially disappeared and cited his campaign for Brooklyn mayor as the reason he was so busy. He said Anderson’s money was invested and not easily accessible, according to text messages filed as exhibits in the lawsuit. Campaign finance records show Anderson donated $175 to Whitehead’s campaign on Jan. 10, 2021. Whitehead has not publicly received matching dollars, CFB records show. On May 19, 2021, text messages submitted as evidence in the lawsuit allege Whitehead told Anderson: “And for the record anything given to me is a donation unless attached to a contract! I made investments and that’s what I’m doing!” In July 2021, Whitehead apparently accidentally sent Rasheed a copy of a contract for a purchase Whitehead made of a $4.4 million mansion in Saddle River, NJ. The suit alleges Whitehead used the $90,000 from Anderson as a down payment on the contract for that purchase, but public records show the purchase was never completed. Whitehead completed the $4.5 million purchase of half an apartment complex in Hartford, CT later that year through his company Whitehead Estates, LLC, public records show. He also owns a home in Paramus, NJ, which he bought for $1.6 million in 2019, according to public records.
Fraud and theft
Anderson is not the first person to accuse Whitehead of defrauding them of significant sums of money. In 2016, the New York Post reported that Whitehead still owes Monterey Symphony conductor Maximo Bragado-Darman $260,000 for a previous court order related to an unpaid personal loan. This loan also involved a purported real estate transaction. Bragado-Darman’s attorney did not return a voice message seeking comment on this case. Whitehead previously served five years in Sing Sing Prison on multiple counts of identity fraud and grand theft before being released in 2013. Despite his checkered history, Whitehead had a close relationship with Mayor Eric Adams, particularly during Adams’ eight years as Brooklyn borough president. Adams has appeared at several public events with Whitehead, and in August 2016 he introduced Whitehead at an outdoor concert in Brooklyn as “my good friend and good brother”. More recently, after the high-profile shooting of a Goldman Sachs employee on the Q train in May, Whitehead tried to help Adams negotiate the extradition of the suspect, Andrew Abdullah. Whitehead had hoped to personally escort the wanted mayor, but police ended up arresting the suspect outside the Legal Aid Society’s Manhattan office. Two months later, after gunmen stormed Whitehead’s church, Adams publicly promised action for his friend. “No one in this city should be the victim of an armed robbery, let alone our religious leaders and fellow worshipers in a House of God,” Adams told the Daily News on Monday. “The NYPD is investigating this crime and will work tirelessly to bring the criminals involved to justice.” Do you have a tip? Contact THE CITY reporters by email at [email protected] and [email protected] An error occurred. Please try again later. Get THE CITY Scoop Subscribe and get the latest stories from the CITY delivered to you every morning Thank you for your submission!
