I can’t believe it. Almost five years ago, in August 2005, I blew my sociopathic ex-husband, who was impersonating a war hero, out of the water in Australia. Recently, he tried to go swimming again in the same water.
For those of you who don’t know the story, I launched Lovefraud because my ex-husband, James Montgomery, took a quarter-million dollars from me, cheated with at least six women during our two-and-a-half year marriage, had a child with one of the women, and then, ten days after I left him, married the mother of the child. It was the second time he committed bigamy.
One way that Montgomery was able to gain my confidence was by pretending to be a war hero. He told me that he’d served in Vietnam as part of the Australian military. He’d won the Victoria Cross—the Australian equivalent of the Congressional Medal of Honor. In fact, he was still in the military when we married, going on clandestine operations with the Special Forces.
Yeah, right.
All lies
The man I married, I found out far too late, was a sociopath. Before my devastating experience, I didn’t know anything about sociopaths. Once I learned that there was a clinical explanation for his reckless, abusive and unconscionable behavior, I knew it was a story that needed to be told.
So I built Lovefraud. At the same time, I contacted Australian and New Zealand Military Impostors, an organization that outed military frauds. I sent them the documents Montgomery had given me to prove his service and heroism. They were all forged. The military guys posted the truth on their website, www.anzmi.net, at the same time that I launched Lovefraud.
The media picked it up. On August 3, 2005, the Daily Telegraph, a Sydney tabloid, ran the story:
Meet Major Fraud
Life was pretty straight for advertising executive James Alwyn Montgomery—so he turned himself into Major Montgomery, secret agent and Vietnam war hero.
He forged identification cards to support an elaborate story that he was a member of Australia’s elite Special Air Service Regiment and the U.S. Army’s top-secret Delta Force.
For more than 20 years he has claimed he served in Vietnam for both Australia and the US. And was even awarded our highest military honour, the Victoria Cross.
But now a Vietnam veterans group has exposed him as an impostor whose only military experience was drawn from movies.
James Alwyn Montgomery was busted. He was sacked from his job as a student radio station manager at Charles Sturt University in Bathurst, Australia. Then I forced him into bankruptcy.
James continues to troll for new victims on the Internet. Since Lovefraud went public, six women have contacted me from Australia. They met him; he tried to hook up with them; they Googled him; they found Lovefraud; they dumped him.
While I was married to the man, he insisted on being called “James Montgomery.” Well, now he calls himself “Jim Montgomery.” I’m sure it’s an attempt to keep people from finding him linked to Lovefraud.
Back in the news
Two weeks ago, I heard from a contact in Bathurst, Australia. James Montgomery was in the news again. He had the audacity to move to a new town—Katoomba, Australia—start telling people his fabricated military tales.
Here’s the story in the Sydney Morning Herald:
Alleged military fraud reappears in NSW
James Montgomery has reappeared in the NSW Blue Mountains five years after his military background was exposed as fraudulent.
Montgomery has been peddling his story of working for the CIA, SAS, ASIO and British military forces along with winning the Victoria Cross around Katoomba in recent months.
It is an offence to claim military service and not have done it.
Senior Vice-President of the Katoomba RSL Owen Wood told AAP Montgomery had tried to join the club in March.
“He won’t be bloody joining,” Mr Wood said.
According to anzmi.net, Montgomery was telling his tales in singles groups. A man who had actually served in Vietnam noticed that there were problems with his stories. So the man checked him out, found him listed on the fraud-busters site, and blew the whistle.
I have to admit that, even after all the stories I’ve heard about sociopaths since Lovefraud launched, I was amazed. Montgomery was totally, convincingly, exposed as a military fraud, yet he started spinning the same BS again.
It’s further evidence that sociopaths don’t change. And apparently, they can’t come up with new ideas either.
Dear Donna, Morally, emotionally and intellectually bankrupt and corrupt. Blech….But how great that you have exposed him, and that your hard work and generous committment has saved so many others from falling into his trap, and the traps of so many others out there.
Mine is now 70 years old, and still piling on the BS- power tripping, and doing all he can to destroy what is left of our once beautiful “family”. He is playing unconsciounable head games with my adult sons, and wherever things could have been at least civil, he has instead taken apparent delight in attempts to grind me down with his greed and arrogance.
All this while he is the one that sabotaged everything about our relationship and did unspeakable things to the sancitity of our marriage, let alone our finances. Uuuuughh. But I have fought back for 2 1/2 years, and expect that I will have some blunt instruments in my divorce settlement agreement to breath down his neck in a very unpleasant fashion. Will I be able to put my efforts into a practical outcome? I still think perhaps. But at the very least, your story and others here on LF have helped me realize that not rolling over and playing dead, that regaining my dignity in the face of his disgusting behavior, is worth the countless hours I have spent backing him against the wall.
Basta. TOWANDA.
Thanks Donna.
Donna, what a story…..what an incredible story. And, for you to put the devastation to such a priceless purpose makes you a hero, in my eyes.
No, they don’t change their spots. EVER. Spath son insists the same nonsense. (sigh)
Spath Island…….South Pacific……..6000 miles from any continent. Put them ALL together, leave some vegetable seeds and a few livestock and let them live amongst themselves for the rest of their mortal lives.
Donna – What was that word? Oh, yah: imperturbable.
It funny though; this quality makes them look stupid and that they lack an ordinary amount of imagination.
Mine continues on, pulling a very similar scam over and over. Uses her own name online in contact with people who don’t know that in another guise she has also ripped off their lives and pictures to con others.
I think they may be inordinately attached to their own names. And that is good for us – because we can find and catch them.
I think they are driven by their unquenchable desire to do the believable, the grandiose, the improbable. And again, this is how we track them. Once their is a web presence – they can, on occasion be caught, and brought up short .
In this case Lovefraud: 6 James Montgomery: 0
Good job.
Yep, Donna, “James/Jim” is living proof that they never change, and at his age right now and the last description you had of him (sure not model quality! LOL) I imagine that he is having great difficulty picking up women. It is strange to me though that James/jim, just like my P-son, seems to have problems coming up with new scams, they just keep replaying the losing ones, which doesn’t make a great deal of sense to me, but they DON’T LEARN from their losses or mistakes or miscalculations do they?
Donna
It’s really hard to fathom, just jaw dropping that he continues using almost the same name, doing the same things, spinning the same fraudulent story around and around, and probably getting results otherwise he would have changed it, or else he wants to be caught to revel in the fame of sociopath king.
But to get back to what really matters at the end of the day….I am so grateful for this site, that YOU built…. You really struck Gold when you decided to call a spade a spade.
You have alerted the relevant people and helped many women avoid the trauma and heartbreak of false promises….as for Montgomery…he just reverts to the same old behaviour, Keep strong in the faith you are a pioneer of sorts, you have opened up a world of similar experiences and joined us together in one huge voice analyzing sociopaths…they are under our glare, they are in the radar of our vast intelligence and commitment to understanding this pathology more….stay strong, I am thinking of you and love will transform this agony into knowledge and awareness for everyone. Thank you Big time.
Thank you all for your kind words. I am so glad that Lovefraud has helped so many people. At least some good has come out of the trauma.
I wish we could as you expose the s in our life. You being able to do so and starting this site has been a godsend to us.
Donna:
SPIT!
Thank you for your guidance and inspiration. The work is never done.
Sociopaths don’t know new tricks, and they think they can’t be exposed again, because they have a new surround of supply and to them the statute of limitations with the ‘old’ life had run out…..they have a ‘fresh start’.
The new ones/supply are groomed to not ask questions….UNTIL they meet another warrior….who knows to ‘ask the next question’ and follow their gut when something doesn’t add up.
This is WHY we must expose along with educate anyone we can about these perps.
The more we talk…..the more sociopaths are closed out.
They DON”T change…..they will continue on until we shut them DOWN!!!! And then some.
Good Job Donna…..Kudos to you for all your hard work and efforts to raise awareness and provide support to others!!!
Donna, et al, I wonder if the use of the same tired falsehoods is something they become attached/addicted to, in the sense that, without their fake persona, the grandiose, extraordinary one, they feel they are nothing? They are driven to keep pumping up their egos because they are running from the nothingness inside.
Once again, thank you for all the good work.
Anitasee,
A sociopath never feels that he or she is nothing. I think they use the same lies because they’ve worked in the past. And they can’t be bothered to think up a new scam.