From the Agreed Statement of Facts – Appendix “A”, in HIS MAJESTY THE KING v GARY LAMONT

From the Agreed Statement of Facts – Appendix “B”, in HIS MAJESTY THE KING v GARY LAMONT

The Gary Lamont Guilty Plea of December 14 2023 – Agreed Statement of Facts – HIS MAJESTY THE KING v GARY LAMONT | Superior Court of Justice | Indictment No. CR-23-0043-00

OVERVIEW

• 1. The following facts are presented by the Crown upon the plea of guilty by Gary LAMONT to counts of forgery and defrauding the public in relation to an art fraud scheme he operated in Thunder Bay, Ontario between 2002 and 2019.
• 2. The charges are Counts 7 and 9, respectively, in a Direct Indictment dated March 8, 2023, which followed Lamont’s arrest on March 1, 2023.
• 3. The forgery count encompasses the creation of hundreds of fake paintings falsely attributed to Norval MORRISSEAU between January 1, 2002 and December 31, 2015.
• 4. The fraud upon the public count relates to steps taken up to, and including, the sale of the forged artwork to purchasers across Canada and elsewhere. Those steps included marketing the fake paintings and other artwork, falsely attributed to Norval MORRISSEAU, on the internet and selling them directly to individuals, art galleries, and collectors.
• 5. Many of these fake artworks were subsequently re-sold to third parties and remain in the public domain.

THE FORGERIES

From 2002 onwards, Gary LAMONT oversaw the production and distribution of hundreds of forged artworks falsely attributed to Norval MORRISSEAU (“the LAMONT Ring Forgeries”). 190 LAMONT Ring Forgeries have been identified to date, with 117 of those forgeries having been seized by investigators. The LAMONT Ring Forgeries identified to date, are listed in Appendix “A” to this Agreed Statement of Fact. An unknown number of LAMONT Ring Forgeries remain in circulation.

Separate and apart from the forgeries produced under his direction, Lamont also acquired, advertised, and sold hundreds of artworks falsely attributed to Norval Morrisseau, sourced from a tertiary Thunder Bay-based distributor, who in turn had acquired the artwork from Thunder Bay-based distributor Rolf Schneiders. This artwork is listed in Appendix “B” to this Agreed Statement of Fact. Lamont acquired this artwork for money or in exchange for providing Lamont Ring Forgeries to the tertiary Thunder Bay-based distributor. On occasion, Lamont also sold the artwork on behalf of the tertiary Thunder Bay-based distributor. The LAMONT Ring Forgeries were produced between the 1st day of January 2002 up to and including the 31st day of December 2015. The majority of the LAMONT Ring Forgeries were claimed and/or marked at LAMONT’s direction, as having been painted in the 1980s and 1990s. The images on the LAMONT Ring Forgeries were created by numerous individuals, including Benjamin MORRISSEAU and Tim TAIT. At LAMONT’s direction, the artwork was then:

• signed with the Cree-syllabic signature identified with Norval MORRISSEAU; and/or
• signed with an English-language signature purported to be by Norval MORRISSEAU.

Investigators were able to trace the LAMONT Ring Forgeries to LAMONT through interviews with participants in, and observers of, the Ring, seized records, and distinguishing features associated with the artwork.

DISTRIBUTION

In addition to trading the forgeries to local distributors, LAMONT sold the forgeries to various individuals and galleries across Canada, where they were subsequently purchased by unsuspecting members of the public. The sale and distribution of forgeries was facilitated by a number of individuals at LAMONT’s direction. Each piece was sold by LAMONT on average for prices ranging between $2,000 to
$10,000.

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