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.
Another way to understand James and other sociopaths is that from his point of view “it worked”. His claims of military service got him what he wanted so why not keep trying that one?
To him it doesn’t matter that he was outed because it worked before so it will work again. Nothing is 100%, right? They will be happy if the story works half the time.
Even after being arrested and imprisoned for impersonating a doctor, Barry Lichtenthal (http://www.lovefraud.com/03_trueLovefraudStories/Barry_Lichtenthal_ruins_career_of_Dr_Liane_Leedom.html) was also still claiming to be a physician even in prison and it worked for him again.
When they find an angle that works they keep using it. It doesn’t matter to them that it doesn’t always work.
Liane, I understand what you’re saying. I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that people do this – if that makes any sense. Yes, I know that they do these things on an academic level. I used to believe, 15 years ago, that if I just “understood” the dynamics, physiology, or neuropathy that caused people to do the vile things that they do, it would “make sense” to me.
What I have personally had to accept is that spaths do the things that they do simply because they CAN. That they are able to maintain their assertions that they’re miliatry heroes, physicians, psychologists, and “all around great” people is evidence that there is a 100% complete lack of conscience and a 160% complete lack of remorse.
Dr. Leedom – you said “Another way to understand James and other sociopaths is that from his point of view “it worked”…’To him it doesn’t matter that he was outed because it worked before so it will work again. ‘
THIS is one of the THINGS that confuses my mind ad naseum. If i wanted to persist in doing something ‘wrong and fabricated’ after being outed I would find a NEW wrong and fabricated thing to do. i also may do things in my life that don’t work – have self defeating behaviours – behaviours i am blind to and/ or have no idea what i need to do to change them. – these are the only two paradigms i have….i don’t have this other thing – i would care who was catching me out; would always be looking over my shoulder.
man, they have to be so different inside. i can only ‘get it’ when i accept that ‘they what they do’. but when i look at the actual behaviours and how you have articulated it here and try to find a ‘place’ for that within my own understanding of what it means to be human i get flummoxed…and i come to the definition of having been spathed as: dancing with the love of your life on a roof top, on your honeymoon, you think the love of your life extends his/her arm to spin you in a romantic whirl. then as you are falling to earth you scramble in your mind to accept that you have been pushed, and who and WHAT has pushed you.
He is still posing as a Dr, still making a name for himself with suspicious diabetes advice that he is not “qualified” to do but misl;eads people with the Dr title, and is now on this site too http://www.ascca.org.au/Club_Info/nsw/katoomba_mens_shed.html
I met him in Bathurst and couldn’t believe the behaviours till I read LoveFraud. Then I met some VietNam vets who were going to take action against him for his deceitful behaviour. He really risks his own safety with his antics
bathurstbird, if it wasn’t so sad it would be funny, a Doctor! what an idiot! I heard on the news a couple of weeks ago a man got done for claiming he was a Vietnam Vet and I was thinking it may have been him but it wasn’t, I hope they get him. It is only time! It would be funny to be in court at the time when he has to explain about being a Vet and a Doctor, hope I’m called for jury duty that day 🙂
Dani S! LMAO!!!!!!!!!!!!! Oh, yes…….to be called as a juror would be just, wouldn’t it????
The ex spath used to claim being a Respiratory Therapist! LMAO!!! It only went through 2 semesters of classes (with me doing the prerequisite English & History stuff), and it claimed to be “medically” educated!
The spath son is doing the same thing by claiming to be seeking a “degree in medicine!”
The frightening thing is that these people tend to gravitate towards fields where they will have “godlike” powers to write prescriptions, render diagnoses, and be lauded as a saver of lives, etc.
Jeepers, it’s just so mind-boggling, sometimes.
LMAO!! Buttons!!!!! Scary stuff huh!!! I am so sorry you ended up with 2 in your life, god 1 almost did me in! lol…… At least mine only pretended that he was a really nice, caring business man, but mine was so stupid and had such poor english that he wouldn’t be able to convince anyone that he was educated. 🙂
This fake military thing is really weird. When it was used on me I cannot say it worked very well. In the beginning I only believed somewhat because or circumstance and then there was an order of Australia Pin which disappeared before I looked at it closely. Then there was the story of how the military were going to erect a flag pole in my yard as he was a veteran and I could not do anything to stop this as he was entitled to it. The stories just got more unbelievable and one day I caught him telling a veteran that his son was serving in Afghanistan in order to cadge a drink off an old digger. Shameless.
Yes the military fraud I know actually shows ordinary photos of himself and his son (who is now old enough to be in the army but certainly is not according to his sister and mother) and tries to elicit sympathy by saying his son in serving in the middle east and how worried he is about him. It is all a complete lie. Being found out in such a lie does not faze him at all, he just makes up some more lies. If people question the boy himself or the the other family members and they deny any knowledge of the son’s service in Afghanistan he simply covers the lie by saying they are not allowed to talk about this as it is “secret” and this is why they deny it.
Military fraud by PROXY! LOL That is a new one on me. I’ve heard people lie about their own military service, but never about their KID’S fake military service. LOL Boy that’s a new one for sure!