09/04/2025
EVERYTHING FOR Y'ALL TO SEE
Portfolio Media. Inc. | 230 Park Avenue, 7th Floor | New York, NY 10169 (https://www.google.com/maps/search/230+Park+Avenue,+7th+Floor+%7C+New+York,+NY+10169?entry=gmail&source=g) | www.law360.com (http://www.law360.com/)
Phone: +1 646 783 7100 | Fax: +1 646 783 7161 | mailto:[email protected]
Jailed Pastor Cites Adams Dismissal In Bid To Beat Charges
By Pete Brush
Law360 (August 27, 2025, 2:57 PM EDT) -- A clergyman serving a nine-year sentence for fraud cited his ties to New York City Mayor Eric Adams on Wednesday in a bid to have his conviction overturned in the wake of the Trump administration's dismissal of the charges against Adams.
Defendant Lamor Whitehead, the founder of Brooklyn church Tomorrow International Ministries who received mentoring from the mayor, asked U.S. District Judge Lorna G. Schofield, who presided over Whitehead's trial (https://www.law360.com/articles/1807034/pastor-and-ally-of-nyc-mayor-was-a-con-man-jury-hears), to grant him bail — and to review the case anew for possible dismissal or transfer to another federal district.
Whitehead last year was convicted and sentenced to prison (https://www.law360.com/articles/1848791/pastor-tied-to-nyc-mayor-gets-9-years-for-fraud-conviction) by Judge Schofield. Prosecutors from the U.S. attorney's office in Manhattan told the jury during his trial that Whitehead, a flamboyant presence in his parish known by some as the "Bling Bishop," was willing to "lie, cheat and steal" to maintain a lavish lifestyle.
Prior to sentencing, prosecutors called him a "career conman" who duped real estate lenders and even a parishioner to obtain more than $7.2 million in fraudulent proceeds. The Second Circuit in September 2024 denied his bid (https://www.law360.com/articles/1880177/convicted-pastor-an-nyc-mayor-ally-denied-bail-for-appeal) to remain free while his appeal plays out. Whitehead is currently serving his sentence in New Jersey federal prison.
As his case unfolded in 2024, Whitehead "repeatedly complained that the government had abused its prosecutorial power" to bring charges, he said in his Wednesday motion (https://assets.law360news.com/2381000/2381662/2025_8_27_whitehead.pdf). The filing cites the pastor's trial testimony in which he said the FBI (https://www.law360.com/agencies/federal-bureau-of-investigation) told him, "We don't want you. We want you to help us get the mayor of New York. ... We know that you're close to the mayor."
But it wouldn't be until 2025, according to Whitehead's new counsel Andrew Frisch, that President Donald Trump's U.S. Department of Justice would accuse former Manhattan U.S. Attorney Damian Williams and others from the office of misconduct in their pursuit of Adams and ultimately drop the case (https://www.law360.com/articles/2311099/eric-adams-case-dismissed-as-judge-rebukes-doj-bargain-) against the mayor in April.
"Like the prosecution of Mayor Adams, the case against Bishop Whitehead was 'at best, extremely aggressive,'" Whitehead said in the motion. He cited the Trump administration's review of the Adams case and its accusation that Williams pursued it "for personal political gain."
The pastor urged Judge Schofield to apply the same purported standard to his case, saying she "should not sanction selective exercise of executive discretion in favor of a purported supporter of the president's agenda and deny it to Bishop Whitehead when the same infirmities taint both cases."
"The new developments and facts on which this motion is based provide definitive and new support for Bishop Whitehead's previously-made challenges to the constitutional unfairness of the case against him," Whitehead said. "There is no genuine space between Mayor Adams and Bishop Whitehead; the case against Bishop Whitehead is likewise irreparably tainted for the same reasons."
Asked for comment, Frisch told Law360 via email that the Adams and Whitehead cases "arose from the same investigation conducted by the same prosecutors," and he asserted both are tainted.
"Bishop Whitehead was complaining in court about the unfairness of the case against him long before the president assumed office and issued his executive order directing remedies for past prosecutorial misconduct," Frisch said.
A request for comment from a representative for the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York (https://www.law360.com/agencies/u-s-attorney-s-office-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york), now led by Trump appointee Jay Clayton (https://www.law360.com/articles/2378440/sdny-judges-ok-trump-s-selection-of-jay-clayton-as-us-atty), was not immediately returned.
Williams did not immediately return a request for comment.
Whitehead is represented by Andrew J. Frisch of Cuti Frisch PLLC.
The government is represented by Jane Kim, Jessica Greenwood and Nathan M. Rehn of the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York.
The case is USA v. Whitehead, case number 1:22-cr-00692 (https://www.law360.com/cases/63a0a1ee8b48b704ef254613), in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York (https://www.law360.com/agencies/u-s-district-court-for-the-southern-district-of-new-york).
