Interesting character, Jordan Belfort, made infamous in the Wolf of Wall Street movie. What cannot be denied is the incredible amount of money quickly made due to his stock brokerage Stratton Oakmont. After prison Belfort began selling his Straight Line sales system which he used to train the over 1000 brokers at Stratton Oakmont. Most recently, Belfort has mostly stopped his YouTube sales strategy videos and is now promoting crypto – including companies he has a financial interest in. Basically, seems like he has come full circle from being the behind the scenes owner of questionable companies whose stock was being pumped to make him a fortune, to being the investor in questionable companies whose crypto product is now being pumped to make him money. Some things never change, although there is seemingly more disclosure about his financial interest, albeit very minimal disclosure. Pieced together from Wikipedia and other websites is an interesting timeline:
1987 – Stock broker career started.
1989 – Stratton Oakmont founded.
1994 – Belfort banned from Stratton Oakmont and the stock industry to resolve charges of illegal misconduct.
1996 – Stratton Oakmont banned by NASD and put out of business due to continued illegal misconduct.
1999 – Belfort indicted for criminal stock manipulation and fraud.
2004-2006 – Prison sentence and owing $110 million in restitution.
2007 – Wolf of Wall Street book written. Initial book advance paid of $500,000.
2007 – Pays $382,910 in restitution – 50% of his income on parole.
2008 – Pays $148,799 in restitution – 50% of his income.
2009 – Pays $170,000 in restitution – 50% of his income. Parole ends.
2010-2020 – Renting and living on beach in Hermosa Beach, California. Companies JB Holdings / Global Motivation may pay what is mentioned on Zillow as a $20,000 per month rental.
2013 – Wolf of Wall Street movie released.
2022 – Now in Miami Beach and married to 4th wife. Apparently lost $300,000 when a crypto account was broken into.
It is amazing how much money was made in just 5 years at Stratton Oakmont. I have yet to see a discussion about what Belfort was doing between 1994 when he was banned from the stock industry and 2004 when his prison term began. It is known he was wired and obtaining information against others in the industry in order to obtain a lighter prison sentence. Still, there is a 5-year gap between leaving the industry and being indicted, and another odd 5-year gap before being sentenced. It seems reasonable for the first years until 1999 he was living off his prior Stratton money, and possibly ongoing “loyalty” kickbacks from other brokerages which he mentions in his book. But after the indictment I would assume his assets were frozen and after being indicted who would be dumb enough to talk to him and incriminating themselves? Maybe the indictment was sealed.
Still, the craziness occurred within just 5 years.
There is then a decade of what was he doing before entering prison.
Then afterwards there is the book and movie money, some sales and speaking presentations, and now a new reinvention as a crypto guru. Personally, the redemption story was better until the recent move into crypto. IMHO the lure of getting rich quick, the similarity to some of the illegal stock activities, and yet another wife – is uncomfortably similar to what has been seen before. The Wolf has not necessarily changed his spots.
Interestingly, in one of his interviews or sales videos, I don’t remember which, Jordan Belfort says the best stock investing strategy is to avoid individual stocks and just buy the SPY ETF – or entire S&P 500.
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