Lamor Whitehead is back in the news.

The flashy Brooklyn pastor, who was arrested on federal financial fraud charges on Dec. 19, is now speaking out. On a Tuesday (Dec. 20) Instagram Live, Whitehead, with portraits of himself in the background, insisted that he was innocent. “Just because you are arrested doesn’t make you guilty. We live in America, and you are innocent until proven guilty,” Whitehead said.

The 45-year-old continued, referencing when his church was robbed during a livestream, “Don’t make the same mistake that you made when my church was robbed. The world went against me, you guys, the media, social media, you guys turned me from a victim to a villain. Everybody said I set up the robbery. Everybody was 100% sure I set up the robbery, and then when they caught the two of the three of the men that robbed my church, everybody got quiet. I need y’all to give me an opportunity.”

Whitehead also added, “If I wasn’t a man of God, the enemy wouldn’t be fighting me. The words that are uttered from my mouth are straight from God. You can ridicule me, you can call me all types of names and you can say what you will say about me, but you’re going to remember this bishop. Don’t drink the Kool-Aid. Y’all drunk it already. Don’t drink it again.”

According to The New York Times, Whitehead was charged with fraud, extortion and lying to federal authorities. Federal prosecutors in Manhattan claim Mr. Whitehead “solicited money from victims, including a retired parishioner, through threats or false promises of enriching them, then kept the money for himself.”

The accusations include a woman who was recovering from surgery and visited his church in 2020. Whitehead allegedly offered to help her purchase a home and she sent him $90,000 from a retirement account. He reportedly sent her a text that read: “I am a man of integrity and you will not lose.” However, when she asked for her money to be returned, he claimed it had already been invested.

Lamar Whitehead has denied all of the allegations, The New York Times reports.

RELATED: Brooklyn Pastor And His Wife Robbed At Gunpoint Of At Least $400K In Jewelry During Service

In July, Whitehead went viral when three masked bandits  stormed into the Leaders of Tomorrow International Ministry church with handguns. The incident was filmed on the church’s livestream. Whitehead stopped his sermon and laid on the floor, as they searched his pockets and removed jewelry from Whitehead and his wife. In September, two men were hit with federal robbery charges for the alleged crimes. That same month, Whitehead also made news in September when he and a woman in his congregation were arrested after he grabbed her during his sermon, believing that she was going to assault his family who were sitting in the pews. Authorities released Whitehead without filing charges, but Tarsha Howard, 47, was charged with trespassing and disrupting a religious service.