Lamor Whitehead, the flamboyant Brooklyn pastor robbed of more than $1 million in jewellery during a livestreamed church service, was charged with stealing $90,000 from a member of the congregation last year.
A lawsuit filed in Brooklyn Supreme Court accuses Whitehead of persuading Pauline Anderson, a 56-year-old woman, to put almost all of her life savings into one of his businesses on the pretext that he wanted to help her purchase a home despite her poor credit history.
According to the suit, reported by The City on Thursday, Whitehead agreed to pay Anderson $100 per month because her savings were her only source of income.
Early in 2021, after months passed without the regular instalments or any movement on the home purchase, Whitehead allegedly informed Anderson that he was treating her investment as a contribution to his then campaign for Brooklyn borough president.
Anderson discovered that he used the funds as down payment on the contract to purchase a $4.4 million home for himself in Saddle River, New Jersey, when he unintentionally sent an email about the purchase to her son, Rasheed, who had initially connected them.
The acquisition of Saddle River was unsuccessful. However, according to The City, Whitehead did purchase a $4.5 million apartment building in Hartford, Connecticut.
According to the lawsuit, he told her afterwards that he had no duty to repay the money because he was investing it in his business, leaving her with nothing but a vague promise to pay the funds back in the future and then an assertion that he had no further obligation to do so.
For Whitehead’s “morally repugnant activities” and for “losing her whole life savings,” Anderson is requesting $1 million in compensation, according to the petition.
The case is still pending in court.
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