From a flamboyant strategy for living in the 1990s to a fraud conviction as the decade drew to a close and a new life as a uplifing speaker, the tale of Jordan Belfort is perhaps one of the most studied stories of Wall Street gone wrongâ"-and ways to make it right.
Born in July, 1962, Jordan Belfort was the boy of Max and Leah Belfortâ"-Jewish accountants living in the Bronx and later Manhattan. Max Belfort was a major influence in Jordan's life, even going on to become the Boss of one of the most noteworthy, opulent and eventually fake Wall St brokers, Stratton Oakmont.
Jordan Belfort studied to be a dentist, but dropped out of school to make his fortune. After many years of working tiny sales jobs, he seemed to make a fast, profitable and potentially illegal practice of brokering in low priced shares. As his operation expanded, he speedily scaled up his operation to make Stratton Oakmont, a disgusting boiler room company that is claimed to have deceived backers of over $200 million. Belfort's company finalised the plan of selling big quantities of penny stocks and shares to unsuspecting bankers, artificially inflating their price and then selling them for a profitâ"-often named as a 'pump and dump' schemeâ"-earning him over $50 million a year. Belfort is considered as the inventor of this plan that is considered by researchers and finance corporate management to be the predecessor to the modern Ponzi scheme. At its peak Stratton Oakmont employed over 1000 brokers dealing in stock worth over one bn. dollars.
Belfort's illegal empire shortly came under the scanner of the Financial Crimes Unit of the Fed Bureau of Investigation and the office of the Alabama Stocks Commissioner. He was found guilty as charged of the white-collar crime and served just about 2 years in Fed prison for cash laundering and securities fraud. In jail, he wrote the manuscript of what would be his hottest 2008 book, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and in 2009 wrote a follow up titled 'Catching the Wolf of Wall Street'. As 1 part of his sentence, he was ordered to pay over $110 million of the cash he had gained in fake trading. In 2013, he was charged with being delayed in meeting his atonement commitments and is claimed to be hunting for alleviation from the adjudication that ordered him to repay 50% of the cash he took from speculators.
Today, Jordan Belfort is a writer, expert and motivational speaker who has written about the import of company ethics in several American and world papers and mags. Through his firm Straight Line, Belfort trains and educates corporate management about the way to use high-return sales methods to generate wealth in a moral manner. He also speaks at some of the most celebrated CXO-level meetings and conventions around the world. His life has been portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2013 film 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.
Born in July, 1962, Jordan Belfort was the boy of Max and Leah Belfortâ"-Jewish accountants living in the Bronx and later Manhattan. Max Belfort was a major influence in Jordan's life, even going on to become the Boss of one of the most noteworthy, opulent and eventually fake Wall St brokers, Stratton Oakmont.
Jordan Belfort studied to be a dentist, but dropped out of school to make his fortune. After many years of working tiny sales jobs, he seemed to make a fast, profitable and potentially illegal practice of brokering in low priced shares. As his operation expanded, he speedily scaled up his operation to make Stratton Oakmont, a disgusting boiler room company that is claimed to have deceived backers of over $200 million. Belfort's company finalised the plan of selling big quantities of penny stocks and shares to unsuspecting bankers, artificially inflating their price and then selling them for a profitâ"-often named as a 'pump and dump' schemeâ"-earning him over $50 million a year. Belfort is considered as the inventor of this plan that is considered by researchers and finance corporate management to be the predecessor to the modern Ponzi scheme. At its peak Stratton Oakmont employed over 1000 brokers dealing in stock worth over one bn. dollars.
Belfort's illegal empire shortly came under the scanner of the Financial Crimes Unit of the Fed Bureau of Investigation and the office of the Alabama Stocks Commissioner. He was found guilty as charged of the white-collar crime and served just about 2 years in Fed prison for cash laundering and securities fraud. In jail, he wrote the manuscript of what would be his hottest 2008 book, 'The Wolf of Wall Street' and in 2009 wrote a follow up titled 'Catching the Wolf of Wall Street'. As 1 part of his sentence, he was ordered to pay over $110 million of the cash he had gained in fake trading. In 2013, he was charged with being delayed in meeting his atonement commitments and is claimed to be hunting for alleviation from the adjudication that ordered him to repay 50% of the cash he took from speculators.
Today, Jordan Belfort is a writer, expert and motivational speaker who has written about the import of company ethics in several American and world papers and mags. Through his firm Straight Line, Belfort trains and educates corporate management about the way to use high-return sales methods to generate wealth in a moral manner. He also speaks at some of the most celebrated CXO-level meetings and conventions around the world. His life has been portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio in the 2013 film 'The Wolf of Wall Street'.