He was convicted of fraud offenses associated with stock exchange exploitation and running a boiler room within a penny stock scam, that he spent 22 months in prison. Belfort began his career as a stockbroker in the L.F. Rothschild business, before founding the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont. Stratton Oakmont functioned as a boiler room that promoted penny stocks and defrauded investors with stock sales. Stratton Oakmont employed over 1,000 stock brokers and was involved in stock problems totaling more than US$1 billion, including an equity raising for footwear business Steve Madden Ltd. The notoriety of the company, targeted by law enforcement officials in the late 1990s, inspired the movie Boiler Room (2000), along with the 2013 biopic The Wolf of Wall Street. Alabama Securities Commissioner Joseph Borg formed a multi-state task force that resulted in the prosecution of Stratton Oakmont, after his office was inundated with complaints about the brokerage. After joining forces together with the FBI, Belfort served 22 months in federal prison to get a “pump and dump” scheme that resulted in investor losses of about US$200 million. Belfort met Tommy Chong while serving his term, and Chong inspired Belfort to write about his experiences as a stockbroker. The pair stayed friends after their release from prison. In accordance with national prosecutors, Belfort hasn’t respected the restitution condition of his 2003 sentencing deal. The deal requires him to pay 50% of his income towards restitution to the 1,513 customers he defrauded. Of the US$11.6 million that’s been regained by Belfort’s casualties, US$10.4 million of the total is the effect of the sale of forfeited properties. The sentencing deal mandates a total of US$110 million in restitution. In October 2013, federal prosecutors filed a charge against Belfort, who received an income of US$1,767,203 from the publication of his two novels and the sale of the movie rights—plus an added US$24,000, brought in from inspirational speaking engagements finished since 2007—asserting that he’d paid restitution of only US$243,000 over the preceding four years. As of November 2013, to keep discussions open, the U.S. government isn’t holding Belfort in default of his payments, but it’s uncertain when the total number of the mandated restitution will be refunded. In May 2014, Belfort said he intended to pay off the remaining restitution through talking fees by the finish of 2014: “My aim would be to make north of $100 million so I will be paying back everyone this year.” If Martin Scorcese and Leonardo DiCaprio did any justice to the character, then Jordan Belfort was actually among the…
American University, Baltimore College of Dental Surgery
Nationality
American
Spouse
Nadine Belfort (m. 1991–2005), Denise Lombardo
Children
Chandler Belfort, Carter Belfort
Movies
The Wolf of Wall Street
Star Sign
Cancer
#
Quote
1
Getting rich is fucking easy. Eight years ago I had zero; this year I'm going to make $100m gross.
2
Winners use words that say 'must' and 'will'
3
Without action, the best intentions in the world are nothing more than that: intentions.
4
I've got the guts to die. What I want to know is, have you got the guts to live?
5
And from the time I was a kid, I've had this internal monologue roaring through my head, which doesn't stop - unless I'm asleep. I'm sure every person has this; it's just that my monologue is particularly loud. And particularly troublesome. I'm constantly asking myself questions. And the problem with that is that your brain is like a computer: If you ask a question, it's programmed to respond, whether there's an answer or not. I'm constantly weighing everything in my mind and trying to predict how my actions will influence events. Or maybe manipulate events are the more appropriate words. It's like playing a game of chess with your own life. And I hate fucking chess!
6
But what I sincerely hope is that my life serves as a cautionary tale to the rich and poor alike; to anyone who's living with a spoon up their nose and a bunch of pills dissolving in their stomach sac; or to any person who's considering taking a God-given gift and misusing it; to anyone who decides to go to the dark side of the force and live a life of unbridled hedonism. And to anyone who thinks there's anything glamorous about being known as a Wolf of Wall Street.
7
If you want to be rich, never give up. People tend to give up. If you have persistence, you will come out ahead of most people. More importantly, you will learn. When you do something, you might fail. But that's not because you're a failure. It's because you have not learnt enough. Do it differently each time. One day, you will do it right. Failure is your friend.
8
Successful people are 100% convinced that they are masters of their own destiny , they're not creatures of circumstance, they create circumstance, if the circumstances around them suck they change them
9
No matter what happened to you in your past, you are not your past, you are the resources and the capabilities you glean from it. And that is the basis for all change.
10
There's no nobility in poverty.
11
The easiest way to make money is create something of such value that everybody wants and go out and give and create value, the money comes automatically.
12
The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can't achieve it
13
Act as if! Act as if you're a wealthy man, rich already, and then you'll surely become rich. Act as if you have unmatched confidence and then people will surely have confidence in you. Act as if you have unmatched experience and then people will follow your advice. And act as if you are already a tremendous success, and as sure as I stand here today - you will become successful.
14
Whether you say, 'I can' or 'I can't,' you're right either way.
15
When you live your life by poor standards, you inflict damage on everyone who crosses your path, especially those you love
16
You don't choose who you fall in love with, do you? And once you do fall in love - that obsessive sort of love, that all-consuming love, where two people can't stand to be apart from each other for even a moment-how are you supposed to let a love like that pass you by?
#
Fact
1
Served 22 months of a 4-year sentence for his involvement in a "pump-and-dump" financial scheme.
Producer
Title
Year
Status
Character
Firestorm
1997
executive producer
Skeletons
1997
TV Movie executive producer
The Elevator
1996
executive producer
Santa with Muscles
1996
executive producer
Prey of the Jaguar
1996
Video executive producer
Assault on Dome 4
1996
TV Movie executive producer
Blood Money
1996
executive producer
The Secret Agent Club
1996
executive producer
Actor
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013
Auckland Straight Line Host
Writer
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Wolf of Wall Street
2013
book
Self
Title
Year
Status
Character
The Mike Koenigs Show
2016
TV Series
Himself - Guest
Poverty Inc
2014
Documentary
Himself
Today
2014
TV Series
Himself
The Insider
2014
TV Series
Himself / Himself - The Wolf of Wall Street
Inside Edition
2014
TV Series documentary
Himself
Entertainment Tonight
2014
TV Series
Himself
Piers Morgan Tonight
2014
TV Series
Himself
The Real Wolf of Wall Street Discusses the Film, Ambition, and Greed
2013
Short
Himself
Archive Footage
Title
Year
Status
Character
Inside Edition
2015
TV Series documentary
Himself
Known for movies
The Wolf of Wall Street (2013) as Auckland Straight Line Host
The Real Wolf of Wall Street Discusses the Film, Ambition, and Greed (2013) as Himself