They say the best con men know how to make a buck going in and two bucks going out.
Meet Jordan Belfort. For those of you who are new to the industry or have been asleep behind the wheel the past couple of years – Jordan’s story runs something like this: Greedy whippersnapper swindles investors out of over a $100 million in mid ‘90’s boiler room brokerage house mayhem while accumulating racing cars, a yacht, access to hookers, blow, and (of course) a house in the Hamptons.
But when that’s all said and done, that’s not too interesting, right? Well, this gets better (or worse) . This guy ultimately gets caught, thrown in the clink for 22months and comes out a changed man. A “chaste” and “moral” man, as he calls it.
Apparently, Jordan did some reading in the big house, saw the light and carved himself a new career path: author of fine contemporary literature. Jordan’s debut book chronicling his trials and tribulations ranging from crashing his helicopter while stoned to falling for a stripper named BLASE, The Wolf of Wall Street will be available at your local bookseller in a couple of weeks.
And, of course, the fun doesn’t stop with the printed word. Looks like Martin Scorsese got his hands on this little treasure and has decided to turn his story into a Leo D blockbuster (think Catch Me If You Can on Wall street).
James P. Bodovitz, a former lawyer for the SEC, sounds a tut-tutting note in the New York Times today. “We should frown on the idea of him trying to profit or restore his public name, in light of what he did,” Bodovitz says. Harsh words there, Bodovitz. How will Jordan ever recover from you frowning at him?
Jordan says he wakes up every morning “sick to my stomach about it.” Well, that makes it all better then.
We plan on getting our hands on an advance copy of this thing and delivering a full review.
In the Ashes of His Life as a Broker, Inspiration [New York Times]
Posted by , Sep 11, 2007 3:43PM
Uhm, a stripper named "Blase" or a stripper named "Blaze"? While "blasé" is arguably a more accurate description of a coked-out stripper, something tells me she wasn't familiar with the word.
Also, he's kind of hot.
Posted by mini ballerette. , Sep 11, 2007 3:50PM
totally second that...shame he's all of a sudden chaste
Posted by The Fake Oscar Wyatt , Sep 11, 2007 3:55PM
Nick Leeson, killer of Barings Bank, wrote a book, too.
Posted by mini ballerette. , Sep 11, 2007 4:09PM
plus Rogue Trader is a sick movie...
but seriously why is he being chastised for making money off his mistakes? its the american way after all...
Posted by Hedgie , Sep 11, 2007 4:21PM
Interesting how Jordan lables himself the "Wolf" of Wall Street when he should be labled what he is -- a thief.
Posted by Byrne , Sep 11, 2007 4:21PM
So did Daniel Drew, allegedly. And at least one of the insider traders in the 80's did (it wasn't Levine; someone with a similar bit role). And Jonathan Lebed cooperated pretty extensively with Michael Lewis; he would have written a book, but he can't write. Annnd at least one boiler room broker wrote a memoir, with enough changed names to make tracing it impossible.
Posted by Zippo , Sep 11, 2007 4:37PM
Is the un-tucked shirt in, or out?
I know the floppy collared, bold, loud x-striped shirts are out.
I really wish we could all go back to dressing alike.
Thanks
Posted by Sigmoid Freud , Sep 11, 2007 4:41PM
The psychiatry in all of this is interesting. To be a celebrity in the trading biz you have to make a boatload of money or lose a boatload of money. Or, like Amaranth folk, do both.
The root cause is "celebrity". Once you have it you never want to lose it. Think of Britney Spears...crowing productivity followed by a psychiatric train wreck. Why? "Celebrity".
Thus our financial miscreants write books about "losing" just like our financial heros write books..think Jack Welch and his book "Winning".
Or, both types of folk had issues with their mothers in some way either pedastled or abusive.
Who's got some blow?
Posted by mary catherine gallagher , Sep 11, 2007 5:01PM
I'm waiting for him to pull those fingers out of his armpits and give them a wicked strong sniff.
Posted by abe , Sep 11, 2007 7:02PM
He's a fucking con man, nothing more. The setting is irrelevant. Con men and blackmailers should be chopped up and dumped in the river.
Posted by anon4life , Sep 11, 2007 8:57PM
I would appreciate this article much more if they also interviewed some of the many lives he completely ruined.
"Mr. Belfort manages to tell the stories in a way that highlights both his depravity and his vulnerability."
What a laugh!
If you steal $100, you're a criminal and locked away. You steal a $100 million, live in the Hamptons and you're a celebrity.
This guy should have received a life sentence for what he did. Or worse.
Posted by , Sep 12, 2007 8:10AM
For those who do not know - they already made a movie about him - it was Boiler Room - fictional account, but based on Stratton Oakmont
Posted by j , Sep 12, 2007 10:11AM
these guys are dime a dozen. chop shop brokers are everywhere. even I personally know of a guy who spent 3 years in federal prison after being followed by the FBI for a year and a half. This guy was dumb as a rock, worked for the mob, and had off shore accounts in the Bahamas where he would have to go if he wanted to withdraw any money. He paid for his porsche in cash, and drove around the city (without a license of couse) with a metal baseball bat in the back seat "just in case". After prison he ended up becoming a mortgage broker but can't sell his story to hollywood because he probably end up at the bottom of the hudson. These people are paracites to the financial industry and are really not that compelling or interesting in any way. yaaaawwwwnnnn....... no need to remake Wall Street. it's been done.
Posted by two step , Sep 12, 2007 4:56PM
as someone who worked at stratton,and the company it then became after(i wont name it ,if u know please respond)i will say that the movie boiler room was more than fiction,it was so close to what actually used to happen on a daily basis it was like someone had a camera on in our office and just hit record.working there was crazy,long hours frat like but with lots of cash,booze,a/c trips,i can do anything after working there,getting people who u cold call 1000's of miles away to send u millions sight unseen makes any other job ill ever have easy.i worked under belfort for sometime but did not know him well.
Posted by Steven Kressel , Sep 13, 2007 11:56AM
Jordan is a cousin through marriage. I only met him once. I did not know the criminal piece to his business at the time.
My impression of him at the time was that he was as crooked as three dollar bill. I remember everyone ooohing and ahhing about him because he was wealthy, powerful, etc. I thought he was a sleaze ball. I think he and criminals of his type should be behind bars for at least 20 years. White collar crime is no less offensive than street crime.
Posted by two step , Sep 14, 2007 3:33PM
hey as someone who worked at stratton and the other shady firms it morphed into,and as someone who now works at a so called reputible one let me share this probably not so shocking news with u,,,,there is NO DIFFERENCE.one place steals in broad daylite while the other one steals without u knowing it .the strattons of the world use the pump and dump while the so called real firms use phony and paid for buy/sell ratings,its all manipulation,if merrill wants to gobble up shares of a stock,what do u know a sell rating is put out so they then can get it on the cheap.it is all a game and just pray u are on the right side.