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The church bishop who became famous after he was robbed on a live stream has been arrested and charged with fraud and extortion.
Prince Williams | Getty Images According to a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office of the Southern District of New York, Miller is charged with defrauding one of his parishioners out of part of her retirement savings, trying to extort and defraud a businessman, and lying to the FBI. The pastor of the church was taken into custody.
According to the release, the U.S. Attorney Damian Williams said that Lamor Whitehead abused the trust placed in him by a parishioner, bullied a businessman for $5,000, then tried to defraud him of far more than that.
The assistant director of the FBI said that he was behind several duplicitous schemes in order to get funds from his victims.
According to the indictments, the pastor persuaded one parishioner to part with $90,000 in retirement savings and promised to invest them for her. According to prosecutors, the Bishop spent the money on himself and used it for other personal purposes.
He asked another person for $5,000 and then asked for $500,000. The Bishop promised to curry favor with the New York City government in return for the favor. He is accused of lying to investigators when he said he had no cellphones other than the phone he was carrying.
A maximum of 45 years in prison is possible for the Bishop if he is found guilty of all charges.
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