NEW YORK (AP) — A Brooklyn preacher with ties to New York City Mayor Eric Adams is set to go on trial Monday in Manhattan federal court over charges that he looted a parishioner’s retirement savings and tried to extort a businessman to fuel his lavish lifestyle.
Lamor Miller-Whitehead, 47, a Rolls Royce-driving bishop, faces the start of jury selection two years after a grand jury lodged charges against him including wire fraud, attempted wire fraud, attempted extortion and making false statements to federal law enforcement officials.
Prosecutors say he plundered a parishioner’s savings and duped a businessman with false claims that they could leverage his connections to New York City officials, including Adams, to make millions of dollars. Miller-Whitehead has pleaded not guilty.
Miller-Whitehead has been free on $500,000 bail since his arrest, which came only months after he was the victim of a robbery when $1 million in jewelry was stolen from him by gunmen who surprised him during a church service.