Poster Child For Fraud Doesn't Think Years Of Criminal Activity Should Represent More Than A Footnote In Biography

Back in the 90s, Jordan Belfort ran a boiler room called Stratton Oakmont, where he ripped off investors to the tune of $200 million. Perhaps you saw his life of crime memorialized in the Wolf of Wall Street? Anyway, that was years ago and while some people, namely the people he scammed, don't think time should absolve Belfort of his wrongdoing, he has fully moved on. He's so moved on, in fact, that he can't for the life of him imagine why anyone would ever mention his criminal activity again, especially in the context of his latest venture:

Belfort, whose debaucherous rise to riches at the helm of stockbroking firm Stratton Oakmont was portrayed in the 2013 Martin Scorsese film, is preparing to run a series of workshops in Sydney and Melbourne in March. These include one day talks and a $2497 three-day boot camp teaching wealth-seekers the secrets of persuasion and success. Stratton Oakmont investors – who lost about $200 million through the firm's stock price manipulation in the late 1980s and 1990s – are still waiting on Belfort to repay in full the $110 million in restitution that he was ordered to pay when convicted of fraud and money laundering in 2004...But Belfort defended his suitability to give the workshops he says will help Australian business owners and investors 'take their wealth to the next level'. 'I don't see what I did 25 years ago has to do with what I do today,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'I have an ability to help and motivate and train and power entrepreneurs and sales people.'

In related news, that money he reportedly still owes people? Well he's paying it back but not because he has to, because he wants to.

He said it was a 'fallacy' that he had not paid back the U.S. government-ordered restitution.
'The answer is I paid back a lot of money, there's whole controversy that I was underpaying but in fact the judge ruled in my favor. 'The government was wrong I overpaid what I was supposed to pay. 'I still continue to pay all the time, all the book money goes back to investors and the movie money and I pay extra money towards it myself.' The CNBC American Greed program reported that Belfort says he doesn't have to pay any more of the money now his probation is over but that he 'wants to'.

I think we're done here.

'I don't see how what I did 25 years ago has to do with what I do today' [Daily Mail]

Earlier: Boiler Room Hall Of Fame Inductee Has Moved On, Suggests You Do Too