Release #4299-99 (Civ-98-70169)

For Release: August 10, 1999

MICHIGAN FEDERAL COURT ENTERS PERMANENT INJUNCTION AGAINST THOMAS
    LAMAR, OF WATERFORD, MICHIGAN, IN CFTC ENFORCEMENT ACTION CHARGING
    FRAUDULENT OPERATION OF A COMMODITY POOL

Court Orders Lamar to Pay Over $2.8 Million In Restitution and
    Disgorgement to Defrauded Customers and Permanently Bars Him from the
    Commodity Industry

WASHINGTON�The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC)
    announced today that on August 5, 1999, Judge Denise Page Hood of the U.S.
    District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan entered a consent order
    permanently enjoining Thomas Lamar of Waterford, Michigan, from,
    among other things, violating the anti-fraud, registration, disclosure, and
    reporting provisions of the Commodity Exchange Act (CEA) and CFTC
    regulations.

The entry of the consent order of permanent injunction stems from a
    five-count CFTC complaint against Lamar filed on February 13, 1998 (see
    CFTC News Release 4108-98, February 17, 1998), which alleged that Lamar
    defrauded at least 85 investors who had invested at least $2 million in the
    Lamar Investments Group (LIG), a commodity futures trading pool
    operated by Lamar.

Specifically, the CFTC complaint alleged that, among other things, from
    about March 1989 through October 1996, Lamar made misrepresentations to
    investors concerning the status and performance of LIG, reported fictitious
    profits to customers through fraudulent monthly account statements, and
    misappropriated funds received from investors. Lamar was also charged with
    acting as a commodity pool operator and commodity trading advisor without
    being registered as such with the CFTC.

In the consent order, Lamar admits the allegations of the CFTC's
    complaint and agrees to pay $2,838,169 as disgorgement and restitution to
    customers. In addition, Lamar also agrees to be permanently enjoined from
    violating the following provisions of the CEA and CFTC regulations:
    sections 4b and 4o of the CEA (anti-fraud provisions); section 4m
    (requirement that commodity pool operators and commodity trading advisors
    register with the CFTC); section 4n and regulation 4.21 (requirement to
    file with the CFTC and provide pool participants with a disclosure
    document); regulation 4.20 (requirement that pool operate as separate legal
    entity and prohibition against commingling customer funds with the funds of
    the commodity pool operator); regulation 4.22 (requirement to provide
    account statements and annual reports to pool participants); regulations
    4.24 and 4.31(requirements that pool operator receive from pool
    participants a signed acknowledgement before accepting funds and entering
    into an agreement to direct trading on their behalf); and regulation 4.30
    (prohibition against accepting funds in the name of the commodity trading
    advisor).

Finally, Lamar consents to be permanently banned from seeking
    registration with the CFTC or acting in any capacity that requires
    registration or is exempt from registration, and to a permanent prohibition
    on trading commodity interests for himself or others, or otherwise engaging
    in any business activities relating to commodity interest trading.

The entry of the consent order by Judge Hood represents the successful
    conclusion to a joint effort between the CFTC and the U.S. Attorney's
    Office for the Eastern District of Michigan. On February 12, 1998, the day
    before the CFTC filed its complaint, a grand jury issued an eight-count
    indictment against Lamar alleging fraud and money laundering violations in
    connection with the operation of the LIG pool. (United States v.
    Lamar, No. 98-80173 (E.D. Mich. 1998)). Lamar subsequently pleaded
    guilty to one count of mail fraud and one count of fraud, false reporting
    and deception in commodity futures trading. On May 26, 1999, Judge Hood
    sentenced Lamar to fifteen months in a halfway house, fifteen months of
    home confinement, and ordered him to pay restitution to pool customers in
    the amount of $2,838,169. The court's order that Lamar pay restitution
    as ordered by the Court in the criminal sentencing will satisfy the
    restitution and disgorgement obligations of the consent order with the
    CFTC.

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