Unsuitability of investments recommended.

$100,000.01

Claimants allege that they should be in different securities and that they are entitled to a return of double their investment.

$2,000,000.00

$60,000.00

FINRA

Respondent Lamont failed to pay fines and/or costs of $99,437.64 in FINRA Case #2017052705801.

Letter

Revocation

Pursuant to FINRA Rule 8320, Respondent Lamont's FINRA registration is revoked as of the close of business on March 13, 2020 for failure to pay fines and/or costs.

Complainants allege that representative Lamont sold an investment(which was subsequently deemed by regulators as a security) to them away from his broker/dealer, which should have known of this transaction. Complainants received full return of principal and interest from their investment, but a trust was created to claw back funds received by various investors to pay other investors who lost money in the investment. Complainants are alleging that even though the broker/dealer did not know of the transaction and did not participate, it must now take responsibility for any damages Complainants experience. Representative Lamont is not named as a respondent in the arbitration.

$40,000.00

Whitehall-Parker Securities, Inc.

Discharged

Representative was suspended by FINRA for 18 months effective 11/04/2019.

Alleges investments were not suitable.

$99,500.00

$17,500.00

FINRA

Without admitting or denying the findings, Lamont consented to the sanctions and to the entry of findings that he engaged in private securities transactions without prior approval from his member firm. The findings stated that Lamont solicited investors to purchase promissory notes relating to a purported real-estate investment fund. Lamont sold $1,467,000 in the notes to investors, three of whom were also customers of his firm. Lamont received $81,417 in commissions in connection with these transactions. Later, the fund filed a voluntary Chapter 11 bankruptcy petition. The United States District Court for the Southern District of Florida issued final judgments against, among others, the fund and its former owner. Those judgments required the fund and its former owner to, among other things, disgorge their ill-gotten gains and also required the former owner to pay a civil penalty. The findings also stated that Lamont disclosed his activities to the firm in a questionnaire, but he identified it as an outside business activity, not a private securities transaction. On that same questionnaire, Lamont denied participating in any private securities transactions.

Acceptance, Waiver & Consent(AWC)

Civil and Administrative Penalty(ies)/Fine(s)

$10,000.00

Disgorgement

$81,417.00

Suspension

All Capacities

18 months

11/4/2019

5/3/2021

Representative engaged in the sale of promissory notes that the issuer claimed were non-securities, and representative believed and relied on this claim. Representative neglected to inform his broker/dealer of this outside business activity.

California Department of Business Oversight

The California Department of Business Oversight(CDBO) alleges that James Lamont sold real estate based loan instruments through Woodbridge Group, which Woodbridge Group claimed were non-securities but which the CDBO determined are securities. This Consent Order merely calls for James Lamont to desist and refrain from selling any securities not properly registered or exempted within the state of California.

Consent

Cease and Desist

None

Woodbridge Group represented that the loan instruments in question were not securities, and James Lamont relied on that representation. The Consent Order requires that James Lamont desist and refrain from selling any securities in the state of California that are not properly registered or exempted from registration and from acting as a broker/dealer with respect to such securities. James Lamont has at all times desired to comply with these terms and agrees to do so going forward.

$28,880.78

Tax

$45,213.77

Tax

Representative Lamont never received notice that this lien was filed and learned of this item from a FINRA examination report received in January, 2017.

$47,472.93

Tax

ARBITRATION STATEMENT OF CLAIM ALLEDGED MISREPRESENTATION; BREACH OF CONTRACT; NEGLIGENCE IN CONNECTION WITH TIC INVESTMENT PURCHASED IN APRIL 2006.

$650,000.00

$87,500.00

$30,433.33

Tax

BREACH OF CONTRACT; BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY; VIOLATION OF STATE AND FEDERAL SECURITIES LAWS; UNSUITABLE INVESTMENTS RELATED TO TIC PURCHASES IN 2007.

$1,100,000.00

$95,000.00

WITHOUT ADMITTING OR DENYING THE ALLEGATIONS IN THE CLAIM, THE PARTIES SETTLED THE MATTER TO AVOID FURTHER EXPENDITURE OF TIME AND RESOURCES. REPRESENTATIVE DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO SETTLEMENT.

(1) MISREPRESETNATION (2) BREACH OF CONTRACT (3) NEGLIGENCE IN CONNECTION WITH TIC, OIL & GAS & REIT INVESTMENTS PURCHASED IN 2004-2006.

$600,000.00

$160,000.00

$11,503.38

Tax

DRAFT STATEMENT OF CLAIM ALLEGED MISREPRESETNATION, OMMISSION OF MATERIAL FACT, FRAUD AND BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY IN CONNECTION WITH A TIC INVESTMENT PURCHASED IN 2004. CLAIM FURTHER ALLEGED RESPONDENTS FAILED TO PERFORM ADEQUATE DUE DILIGENCE ON THE OFFERING.

$361,000.00

$99,000.00

VIOLATION OF FEDERAL & STATE SECURITIES LAWS, FRAUD, NEGLIGENCE, UNSUITABLE TRANSACTIONS, BREACH OF FIDUCARY AND CONTRACTUAL DUTIES.

$235,000.00

$60,500.00

INVESTMENTS WERE SUITABLE AND REPRESENTED IN ACCORDANCE WITH FIRMS' POLICIES AND PROCEDURES. CLIENTS SIGNED ALL REQUIRED DOCUMENTATION INCLUDING ELIGIBILITY AND RISK STATEMENTS. REPRESENTATIVE DENIES ALL ALLEGATIONS AND WILL DEFEND THE TRANSACTIONS. ON 7/17/13, THE PARTIES SETTLED THE MATTER WITHOUT ADMITTING OR DENYING THE ALLEGATIONS. REGISTRANT DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO SETTLEMENT.

STATEMENT OF CLAIM ALLEGED FRAUD; MISREPRESENTATION OF MATERIAL FACTS & FAILURE TO SUPERVISE REGARDING THE INVESTMENTS PURCHASED IN OCTOBER 2006.

$540,000.00

$160,000.00

THE PARTIES SETTLED THE MATTER WITHOUT ADMITTING OR DENYING THE ALLEGATIONS CONTAINED IN THE CLAIM. REGISTRANT DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO SETTLEMENT.

$15,733.11

Tax

ARBITRATION STATEMENT OF CLAIM ALLEGED MISREPRESENTATION; BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY; NEGLIGENCE IN CONNECTION WITH A TIC INVESTMENT PURCHASED IN 2005

$1,009,537.50

$335,000.00

ARBITRATION STATEMENT OF CLAIM ALLEGED MISREPRESENTATION; OMMISSION OF MATERIAL FACTS; BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY; NEGLIGENCE IN CONNECTION WITH TIC INVESTMENT PURCHASED IN 2006.

$595,000.00

$210,000.00

ARBITRATION STATEMENT OF CLAIM ALLEGED BREACH OF FIDUCARY DUTY, NEGLIGENCE, MISREPRESENTATION IN CONNECTION WITH A TIC INVESTMENT PURCHASED IN 2007.

$603,750.00

$250,000.00

REPRESENTATIVE DISPUTES ALLEGATIONS CONTAINED IN ARBITRATION STATEMENT. CLAIMANT WAS AND STILL REMAINS AN EXPERIENCED REAL ESTATE INVESTOR AND WAS INFORMED OF ALL MATERIAL FACTS INCLUDING FEATURES, BENEFITS AND RISKS SURROUNDING THE OFFERING. WITHOUT ADMITTING OR DENYING THE ALLEGATIONS IN THE STATEMENT OF CLAIM, THE PARTIES SETTLED THE MATTER TO AVOID FURTHER TIME AND EXPENSE ASSOCIATED WITH THIS DISPUTE. REGISTRANT DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO SETTLEMENT.

$16,569.10

Tax

$1,708.00

Civil

$90,641.73

Tax

$17,979.72

Tax

MISREPRESENTATION, OMMISSION OF MATERIAL FACTS, BREACH OF FIDUCIARY DUTY CONCERNING THE SALE OF TENANT IN COMMON PROPERTY IN JUNE 2007.

$329,000.00

$93,400.00

REPRESENTATIVE DISPUTES ALLEGATIONS CONTAINED IN ARBITRATION STATEMENT. CLAIMANT IS AN EXPERIENCED REAL ESTATE INVESTOR AND WAS INFORMED OF ALL MATERIAL FACTS INCLUDING RISKS SURROUNDING THE OFFERING. WITHOUT ADMITTING ANY LIABILITY THE DISPUTE WAS SETTLED TO AVOID EXPENSE AND INCONVENIENCE OF LITIGATION. REGISTRANT DID NOT CONTRIBUTE TO SETTLEMENT.