Jordan Belfort

Jordan Belfort (born July 9, 1962), also known as the "Wolf of Wall Street," is an American former stockbroker, convicted felon, author, and motivational speaker who pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering in 1999. What Jordan Belfort did that led to his conviction centered on his operation of Stratton Oakmont, a Long Island-based over-the-counter brokerage firm that defrauded investors of approximately $200 million through pump and dump schemes during the late 1980s and 1990s. His case became one of the most notorious examples of white-collar crime in American financial history and was later dramatized in the 2013 Martin Scorsese film The Wolf of Wall Street, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

How long the Wolf of Wall Street went to prison was 22 months, which Belfort served at the Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, California, a minimum-security federal facility. His sentence was significantly reduced from the original four-year term due to his cooperation with federal authorities as an informant. Belfort was ordered to pay $110.4 million in restitution to the 1,513 investors he defrauded, though as of 2018, he had paid only a fraction of this amount.

Early Life and Background

Jordan Ross Belfort was born on July 9, 1962, in the Bronx, New York City, to Jewish parents Maxwell "Max" Belfort and Leah Markowitz, both of whom were accountants. He was raised in Bayside, Queens, and has an older brother named Robert. His paternal grandfather, Jack Belfort, was an immigrant from Russia, while his grandmother was a second-generation American born to Lithuanian parents in New Jersey.

Between completing high school and starting college, Belfort and his childhood friend Elliot Loewenstern earned $20,000 selling Italian ice from styrofoam coolers to beachgoers at Jones Beach on Long Island. Belfort graduated from American University with a degree in biology and initially planned to attend dental school. He enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry, but claims he dropped out on the first day after the dean delivered a speech stating that "the golden age of dentistry is over" and that students seeking to make significant money were "in the wrong place."

Early Business Ventures

After abandoning dental school, Belfort became a door-to-door meat and seafood salesman on Long Island. According to his memoirs and interviews, he grew this business to employ several workers and sell 5,000 pounds of beef and fish per week. However, the business ultimately failed, and Belfort filed for bankruptcy at age 25.

Following his bankruptcy, a family friend helped Belfort find a job as a trainee stockbroker at L.F. Rothschild, a Wall Street firm. Belfort claims he was laid off after that firm experienced financial difficulties related to the Black Monday stock market crash of October 1987. After his time at L.F. Rothschild, Belfort joined Investors Center, a penny stock firm, before founding Stratton Oakmont.

Stratton Oakmont

Founding and Operations

Jordan Belfort founded Stratton Oakmont in 1989 with partners Danny Porush and Brian Blake. Belfort initially opened a franchise of Stratton Securities, a minor broker-dealer, and then bought out the original founder. The firm operated from offices in Lake Success on Long Island, New York, and functioned as a boiler room that marketed penny stocks and defrauded investors using pump and dump stock sales.

Stratton Oakmont became the largest over-the-counter brokerage firm in the United States during the late 1980s and 1990s. At its peak, the firm employed over 1,000 stockbrokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than $1 billion. Stratton Oakmont was responsible for the initial public offerings of 35 companies, including the footwear company Steve Madden, Ltd.

The firm's brokers used high-pressure sales tactics developed by Belfort himself, following scripts designed to manipulate investors into purchasing stocks. Employees were urged to follow the motto "Don't hang up until the customer buys or dies." The firm's culture was characterized by lavish parties, substance abuse, and reckless behavior, with employees sometimes being paid to perform outrageous stunts in the office.

Pump and Dump Scheme

What Jordan Belfort did to defraud investors was orchestrate a sophisticated pump and dump scheme through Stratton Oakmont. This form of microcap stock fraud involved artificially inflating the price of stocks through false and misleading positive statements, then selling the firm's own shares at the inflated prices. Once Belfort and his associates "dumped" their overvalued shares, the price would collapse, leaving investors with significant losses.

The scheme operated as follows: Stratton Oakmont would purchase large blocks of low-priced penny stocks, then use aggressive marketing and high-pressure sales tactics to create artificial demand among retail investors. In many cases, the firm would lure clients in by allowing them to make a profit on their initial trade, building trust before pushing fraudulent stocks. Once the stock price had been inflated sufficiently, Belfort and his brokers would sell their holdings, causing the price to crash and leaving investors with worthless stock.

Steve Madden IPO

One of the most notable examples of Stratton Oakmont's fraudulent practices was the initial public offering for Steve Madden, Ltd. in December 1993. The SEC later alleged that Stratton Oakmont, with Madden's knowledge and participation, manipulated the IPO using "flippers"—people who received IPO stock allocations with the understanding they would sell the stock back to Stratton at pre-arranged, below-market prices once trading commenced.

Belfort sought to retain a controlling interest in Steve Madden, Ltd., but NASD rules prohibited the firm from owning more than 4.9% of the stock. To evade this requirement, Belfort and Madden entered into a sham agreement in which Belfort purportedly transferred his shares to a company owned by Madden, while secretly maintaining actual ownership. This arrangement was not disclosed in the prospectus, which falsely described the transaction as a legitimate sale.

Steve Madden was later convicted in 2002 of stock manipulation, money laundering, and securities fraud related to his involvement with Stratton Oakmont. He was sentenced to 41 months in prison and was forced to resign as CEO of his company. Madden later said of Belfort, "He ratted me out to save himself."

Regulatory Scrutiny and Closure

Stratton Oakmont was under near-constant scrutiny from the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) from 1989 onward. The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission began investigating Stratton Oakmont's practices in 1992, claiming the firm had defrauded investors and manipulated stock prices. In 1994, Stratton Oakmont paid $2.5 million to settle a civil securities fraud case brought by the SEC. The settlement also banned Belfort from running a brokerage firm, and as a result, he sold his share of Stratton Oakmont.

Danny Porush took over as chairman and CEO of Stratton Oakmont after Belfort was barred from the industry. In April 1996, the New York District Business Conduct Committee barred Stratton Oakmont from conducting principal retail transactions for a year. In December 1996, the NASD permanently expelled Stratton Oakmont, putting the firm out of business. Officials called Stratton Oakmont "one of the worst actors" in the securities industry, with a history of "obvious disregard for all rules of fair practice."

Federal prosecutors and SEC officials involved in the case have stated that "Stratton Oakmont was not a real Wall Street firm, either literally or figuratively."

Criminal Charges and Conviction

What Jordan Belfort Was Arrested For

Jordan Belfort was indicted in 1999 on federal charges of securities fraud and money laundering. The charges stemmed from his role in operating the pump and dump scheme at Stratton Oakmont that defrauded investors of approximately $200 million over a seven-year period. Belfort and co-founder Danny Porush pleaded guilty and admitted that they had manipulated the stock of at least 34 companies.

The specific charges against Belfort included:

• Securities Fraud: Belfort orchestrated pump and dump schemes where Stratton Oakmont brokers artificially inflated stock prices through aggressive sales tactics and false information, then sold their own shares at inflated prices, causing massive losses for investors.

• Money Laundering: Belfort was charged with concealing the proceeds of his fraudulent activities, including moving funds through offshore accounts in Switzerland and using shell companies to hide his illegal gains.

The investigation into Belfort's activities was conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), with the case prosecuted by the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of New York.

Cooperation with Federal Authorities

As part of his plea agreement, Belfort became an informant for the FBI. He wore a wire against numerous partners and associates and later testified against many of them in federal court. His cooperation led to the prosecution of other individuals involved in the scheme, including those at related brokerage houses.

Danny Porush was also convicted of insider trading, perjury, conspiracy, and money laundering and was ordered to pay $200 million in restitution. Porush served 39 months in prison.

Sentencing

On July 18, 2003, Jordan Belfort was sentenced by U.S. District Judge John E. Gleeson to four years in federal prison. He was also ordered to pay $110,362,993.87 in restitution to the 1,513 investors he defrauded, at a rate of 50% of his gross annual income.

How long the Wolf of Wall Street actually went to prison was significantly less than the original sentence due to his cooperation with authorities. Belfort served 22 months of his four-year sentence as part of his plea deal with the FBI.

Incarceration

Where Jordan Belfort Served His Prison Sentence

Jordan Belfort served his 22-month sentence at the Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, California. The facility, located approximately 30 miles southwest of Bakersfield, was a minimum-security federal prison operated by a private contractor for the Federal Bureau of Prisons.

During his incarceration, Belfort was housed with comedian and actor Tommy Chong, who was serving a nine-month sentence for selling drug paraphernalia through his company. Chong encouraged Belfort to write about his experiences as a stockbroker. The two remained friends after their release from prison, with Belfort crediting Chong for his new career direction as a motivational speaker and writer.

Belfort was released from the Taft Correctional Institution in April 2008. Following his release, he was subject to a three-year period of supervised release during which he was required to pay 50% of his gross income toward restitution.

Restitution and Ongoing Legal Issues

Court-Ordered Restitution

At his 2003 sentencing, Jordan Belfort was ordered to pay $110.4 million in restitution to the victims of his fraud. His restitution agreement required him to pay 50% of his income toward restitution to his 1,513 victims until 2009.

During his parole period after leaving prison, Belfort paid $382,910 in 2007, $148,799 in 2008, and $170,000 in 2009. About $10 million of the total amount recovered by Belfort's victims as of 2013 came from the sale of forfeited properties that were seized at the time of his arrest.

Unpaid Restitution

As of 2018, Belfort still owed approximately $97 million to his victims, having paid only about $13 million of the $110.4 million ordered. Federal prosecutors have alleged that Belfort has failed to meet his restitution obligations despite earning significant income from his memoirs, the film adaptation, and motivational speaking engagements.

Prosecutors claimed in court papers that Belfort earned at least $9 million in speaking engagements between 2013 and 2015 but pocketed all of it without paying toward restitution. Belfort and his attorneys have disputed the government's calculations and what he is required to pay, arguing that his obligation to pay 50% of his income ended in 2009.

In October 2013, federal prosecutors filed a complaint against Belfort regarding his restitution payments. The government later withdrew its motion to find Belfort in default after his lawyers argued he had only been responsible for paying 50% of his salary through 2009.

2018 Court Proceedings

In May 2018, U.S. District Judge Ann Donnelly in Brooklyn held a garnishment hearing regarding Belfort's restitution obligations. The judge stated that she wanted to get Belfort's roughly $97 million investor restitution "back on track" nearly 20 years after his conviction. Belfort did not appear in court for the hearing, as he was scheduled to be in Lithuania giving a paid motivational speech.

In December 2018, Judge Donnelly ordered Belfort to surrender 100% of his equity interest in Delos Living, a wellness real estate and technology company, to his victims. The judge rejected Belfort's argument that under the Consumer Credit Protection Act, the government could only garnish 25% of his interest. Judge Donnelly noted that Belfort had paid only a "fraction" of his court-ordered restitution and that garnishing his full stake in Delos was consistent with the goals of the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act.

The former federal prosecutor who led the criminal investigation of Belfort stated that Belfort "invented much" in his memoirs and "aggrandized his importance," adding that "the real Belfort story still includes thousands of victims who lost hundreds of millions of dollars that they never will be repaid."

Life After Incarceration

Writing Career

Jordan Belfort began writing his first memoir while in prison, encouraged by his cellmate Tommy Chong. He reportedly wrote and destroyed 130 initial pages before starting fresh after his release. Belfort received a $500,000 advance from Random House for his book, and before its release, a bidding war began for the film rights.

Belfort published The Wolf of Wall Street in 2007, using one of his nicknames as the title. The memoir explored his rise in the financial world, his lavish lifestyle, and his eventual downfall. He followed it with a second memoir, Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, in 2009. The books have been published in approximately 40 countries and translated into 18 languages.

In 2017, Belfort published Way of the Wolf: Straight Line Selling: Master the Art of Persuasion, Influence, and Success, detailing the sales techniques he used at Stratton Oakmont. In 2023, he released The Wolf of Investing, which he claims contains his strategies for making money on Wall Street.

Film Adaptation

The 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, was based on Belfort's first memoir. The film made approximately $100 million in the United States alone and received widespread critical attention, including multiple Academy Award nominations.

Jonah Hill portrayed Donnie Azoff, a character loosely based on Danny Porush. Porush called the portrayal inaccurate and threatened to sue the filmmakers. The film also inspired renewed interest in Stratton Oakmont, which had earlier been the inspiration for the 2000 film Boiler Room.

When government lawyers learned of the deal to publish Belfort's memoir and the subsequent film deal in April 2007, they filed restraining orders against Bantam Books, Warner Brothers, and Appian Way, Leonardo DiCaprio's production company. Belfort eventually agreed to pay 50% of his earnings from the movie toward restitution. However, BusinessWeek reported that Belfort had paid only $21,000 toward his restitution obligations out of approximately $1.2 million paid to him in connection with the film before its release.

Motivational Speaking

Following his release from prison, Belfort reinvented himself as a motivational speaker and corporate sales trainer. He developed the "Straight Line System," a sales methodology based on the techniques he used at Stratton Oakmont, and has delivered paid speeches around the world.

In 2014, during a global speaking tour, Belfort stated that he hoped to earn "north of $100 million" by giving speeches about his "redemption," which would allow him to repay his victims. He told audiences, "Once everyone is paid back, believe me I will feel a lot better. My goal is to give more than I get, that's a sustainable form of success."

At a motivational talk in Dubai on May 19, 2014, Belfort stated: "I got greedy." His speaking career has been controversial, with critics arguing that he has profited from promoting his criminal past while failing to fully compensate his victims.

Cryptocurrency Involvement

Belfort was previously a skeptic of cryptocurrency, having called Bitcoin "frickin' insanity" and "mass delusion." As he learned more about cryptocurrency and prices increased, he changed his position and has become an investor in several cryptocurrency startups. He has said that he is "massively looking forward to regulation" of cryptocurrency.

Belfort has declined offers to create Wolf-themed non-fungible tokens (NFTs) despite saying that he "could easily make $10 million" from such ventures. He also hosts a podcast called "The Wolf's Den."

Personal Life

Jordan Belfort married his first wife, Denise Lombardo, in 1985. They divorced while Belfort was running Stratton Oakmont. He later married Nadine Caridi, a British-born, Bay Ridge, Brooklyn-raised model whom he met at a party. They had two children together.

Belfort and Caridi separated following her allegations of domestic violence, which were reportedly fueled by his drug addiction and infidelity. According to reports, police were called to their home after Belfort allegedly kicked his wife down the stairs and then drove a car through the garage with his children inside the vehicle. They divorced in 2005.

During his years at Stratton Oakmont, Belfort led a lavish lifestyle characterized by extensive drug use, particularly of methaqualone (Quaaludes), which resulted in an addiction. He owned numerous luxury vehicles, real estate properties including a $10 million Long Island mansion, and a luxury yacht originally built for Coco Chanel in 1961. The yacht, renamed Nadine after Caridi, sank off the coast of Sardinia in June 1996 when Belfort insisted on sailing in high winds against the advice of his captain. Italian Navy special forces rescued all aboard.

Belfort is an avid tennis player.

Legal and Financial Consequences

Jordan Belfort's conviction resulted in significant legal and financial penalties that continue to affect him decades later.

Summary of Penalties

• Prison Sentence: Four years (served 22 months at Taft Correctional Institution)
• Restitution: $110.4 million ordered (approximately $13 million paid as of 2018)
• Securities Industry Ban: Permanent bar from the securities industry
• Asset Forfeiture: Forfeiture of properties and assets at sentencing
• Ongoing Garnishment: Court-ordered garnishment of income and business interests

Lasting Impact

Belfort's case demonstrated the federal government's commitment to prosecuting white-collar crime and the challenges of recovering restitution from convicted fraudsters. His story highlighted issues related to cooperation agreements in federal cases and the sentencing considerations for white-collar offenders.

The case also raised questions about whether criminals can profit from their crimes through book deals and speaking engagements while victims remain uncompensated. Federal prosecutors have continued to pursue garnishment of Belfort's earnings decades after his conviction.

Terminology

This section defines key terms relevant to Jordan Belfort's case and the securities fraud he committed.

• Pump and Dump refers to a form of securities fraud that involves artificially inflating the price of a stock through false and misleading positive statements, then selling the stock at the inflated price before the price collapses.

• Boiler Room is a call center or office where high-pressure salespeople call lists of potential investors to peddle speculative or fraudulent securities.

• Penny Stock refers to low-priced, speculative securities of very small companies, typically trading at less than $5 per share and often traded over-the-counter rather than on major stock exchanges.

• Initial Public Offering (IPO) is the process by which a private company offers shares to the public for the first time, allowing it to raise capital from public investors.

• Securities Fraud encompasses various illegal practices in the stock and commodity markets, including misrepresentation, market manipulation, and insider trading.

• Money Laundering refers to the process of concealing the origins of illegally obtained money, typically by transferring it through legitimate businesses or foreign banks.

• Restitution is a court-ordered payment made by a convicted defendant to compensate victims for their financial losses resulting from the crime.

• NASD (National Association of Securities Dealers) was a self-regulatory organization for the securities industry that was later consolidated into the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA).

See Also

• Restitution Orders – Information about federal restitution requirements
• Bernie Madoff – Another notorious financial fraud case
• First Step Act – Federal criminal justice reform legislation

External Links

• SEC Litigation Release: Steve Madden Case
• Stratton Oakmont Wikipedia Article
• Federal Bureau of Prisons - Taft Correctional Institution