By Leonardo Blair, Senior Reporter Thursday, April 03, 2025

Convicted Bishop Lamor Whitehead, popularly known as the “Bling Bishop,” claims he was a victim of “vindictive or selective prosecution” because he refused to help authorities indict his former friend and mentor, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, whose criminal corruption case was dismissed with prejudice Wednesday.

Last September, Adams was formally indicted on charges that he took some $10 million in bribes and illegal campaign donations from foreign nationals in exchange for favors.

District Court Judge Dale Ho dismissed the case in a 21-page order and opinion, while challenging some arguments made by the Department of Justice that pushed for the dismissal by saying the case “is tainted with impropriety,” “detrimental to national security and immigration enforcement” and “was a weak case to begin with.”

"DOJ's first asserted rationale for dismissing this case — that it has been tainted by ‘appearances of impropriety,’ [...] is unsupported by any objective evidence. Rather, the record before the Court indicates that the U.S. Attorney's Office for the Southern District of New York prosecutors who worked on this case followed all appropriate Justice Department guidelines,” Ho wrote. “There is no evidence — zero — that they had any improper motives.”

In a court filing last month, Whitehead, who was convicted on fraud and attempted extortion charges in Manhattan federal court, alleges he was a victim of “vindictive or selective prosecution” by the administration of former United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Damian Williams. He suggested that he was collateral damage in what many have argued was a politically motived action by Williams to remove Adams from power.

“Petitioner has been ensnared in the nationally known case against New York City Mayor, Eric Adams. Mayor Adams was petitioner’s friend and mentor for many years,” Whitehead argues in the filing.

“The relevance of the Mayor’s indictment is that, due to his association, petitioner is a victim of ‘vindictive or selective prosecution’ in violation of Rule 12 (b)(3)(A) (iv) of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and the constitutional violation arises in the fact that petitioner’s legal counsel failed to advise petitioner that his case had the rare cause for dismissal under Rule 12(b)(3)(A)(iv),” he argues. “This failure of counsel had a material impact on petitioner’s case because it could have led to a drastically different outcome.”

Whitehead further argued that the government’s main witness against him, Brandon Belmonte, was also working as a government informant who was indicted prior to his trial “due to some unknown action.”

“Once indicted, Mr. Belmonte could no longer provide the same testimony that he gave when the government used him in procuring petitioner’s indictment. What is more, Mr. Belmonte lied about numerous things, and as such, had Mr. Belmonte not been indicted, he would be able to provide exonerating evidence for petitioner,” Whitehead notes.

“By indicting Mr. Belmonte, the government violated Petitioner’s due process rights, and once again, counsel provided ineffective assistance by not seeking a continuance until Mr. Belmonte’s indictment was properly adjudicated.”

Whitehead, who is incarcerated, argued in the filing made in the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, that the court grants him an evidentiary hearing to prove the violations; orders for affidavits/attestations from his prior counsel to confirm the allegations of ineffectiveness; and or that the Southern District of New York be ordered to vacate his sentence and reinstate his bail pending a retrial.

Whitehead, who formerly led the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministries in Brooklyn, was found guilty on five counts connected to his defrauding of a parishioner and attempt to extort a local businessman, including wire fraud, attempted extortion and lying to the FBI.

He was also previously arrested in 2006 for a $2 million identity theft scam and served some five years in prison. He was released in 2013 and maintains that he was "falsely convicted and arrested for a crime I did not commit."

After his conviction in 2024, Whitehead insisted that he would be vindicated and his "story isn't over." 

"The story isn't over. ... It's just a new chapter. … Stay (sic) tune … God is still God. … They can all laugh now and talk. After this ... Jesus will still get the glory. Stay tuned for this new chapter called ... Truth and vindication," he wrote in a statement posted on Instagram.

"The media is going to put out there what they want to put out there. They are going to make this look the way they want to make it look," he added. "Stop listening to all the social media platforms and the media." 

News Source : https://www.christianpost.com/news/bling-bishop-lamor-whitehead-alleges-he-was-targeted.html