Net Worth Ranker
What Is Jordan Belfort’s Net Worth?
Jordan Belfort, the infamous former stockbroker and author, has a net worth of negative $100 million. This substantial negative net worth stems primarily from the restitution he owes to the victims of his fraudulent schemes.
Stratton Oakmont and Financial Crimes
Between 1989 and 1996, Belfort operated Stratton Oakmont, a financial firm known for executing pump-and-dump schemes. These schemes defrauded investors of approximately $200 million. In 1999, Belfort and his co-founder Danny Porush were indicted on charges of securities fraud and money laundering. Both pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, leading to reduced sentences.
Belfort was ordered to pay $110 million in restitution to approximately 1,513 victims at his 2003 sentencing. He was also sentenced to four years in prison but served only 22 months after becoming an FBI informant.
Restitution Payments and Earnings
According to the terms of his restitution agreement, Belfort was initially required to pay 50% of his gross income to his victims. Between 2007 and 2009, he paid approximately $700,000 towards his restitution. However, in 2010, he made no payments at all. In 2011, Belfort sold the film rights to his memoirs for $1.045 million, receiving $940,500 upfront and an additional $250,000 in 2012. Despite this income, he only paid $21,000 in restitution in 2011. In 2012, the US government intervened, and Red Granite Pictures directly paid $125,000 (half of his $250,000 payment) to the government. His total payment for 2012 was $158,000.
In 2013, his restitution plan was adjusted to a minimum of $10,000 per month for life. As of today, Belfort has only repaid around $13-14 million towards the total restitution owed, with $11 million coming from the sale of properties relinquished at his sentencing. This leaves a balance of approximately $100 million still owed to his victims.
In 2018, prosecutors brought Belfort back to court regarding approximately $9 million he earned in speaking fees between 2013 and 2015, alleging that none of this money was paid towards restitution.
Early Life and Career Beginnings
Born on July 9, 1962, in The Bronx, New York, Jordan Belfort was raised in Bayside, Queens. During the summer between high school and college, Belfort and a friend earned $20,000 selling Italian ice on the beach. He graduated from American University with a degree in biology and briefly attended dental school before dropping out.
Before his career in finance, Belfort sold meat and seafood door-to-door on Long Island, New York. His business grew to employ several people and sell 5,000 pounds of beef and fish weekly. However, he filed for bankruptcy at age 25.
Belfort began his stockbroker career as a trainee at L.F. Rothschild but was laid off after the 1987 Black Monday crash. Undeterred, he worked for several financial firms, learning the trade before founding Stratton Oakmont in the early 1990s.
At its peak, Stratton Oakmont employed over 1,000 stockbrokers and had over $1 billion under management. However, the firm was eventually shut down in December 1996 after scrutiny from the National Association of Securities Dealers.
Motivational Speaking and Writing Career
Since his release from prison, Belfort has reinvented himself as a motivational speaker, establishing a business called Global Motivation, Inc. He spends approximately three weeks per month traveling and giving speeches, focusing on ethics in business and learning from mistakes. His speaking engagements command fees ranging from $30,000 to $75,000, while sales seminars cost $80,000 and up.
Belfort is the author of the memoirs “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Catching the Wolf of Wall Street,” which have been published in approximately 40 countries and translated into 18 languages. “The Wolf of Wall Street” was adapted into a film directed by Martin Scorsese, starring Leonardo DiCaprio.
Personal Life and Lavish Spending
During his time at Stratton Oakmont, Belfort led a lavish lifestyle, marked by frequent parties and recreational drug use, particularly methaqualone (Quaaludes).
Belfort’s personal life has been tumultuous. He divorced his first wife, Denise Lombardo, in 1991, after being married since 1985. In 1991, he married Nadine Caridi, with whom he had two children, Chandler and Carter. They divorced in 2005 after she accused him of domestic violence. In 2008, he married Anne Koppe, but they divorced in 2020. As of 2021, he was dating Cristina Invernizzi.
Belfort once owned the luxury yacht Nadine, originally built in 1961 for Coco Chanel. He renamed it after his second wife. The yacht sank off the coast of Sardinia in June 1996.
In October 1992, Belfort purchased a 9,000-square-foot mansion on two acres in Old Brookeville, New York, for $5.775 million. This mansion was seized by the federal government in 2001 and sold for $2.53 million to pay back some of Belfort’s fraud victims. It was later relisted for $4.75 million in 2015 and eventually sold for $2.4 million in October 2018.
The “Wolf of Wall Street” Nickname
Despite being widely known as “The Wolf of Wall Street,” Jordan Belfort was never referred to by this nickname during his time working in finance. He invented the nickname himself while writing his memoir in jail. The 2013 film inaccurately portrays the nickname as being bestowed upon him by a Forbes writer in a 1991 article. The actual Forbes article, titled “Steaks, Stocks – What’s the Difference?” described him as a “twisted Robin Hood” and his business model as “pushing dicey stocks on gullible investors” but never referred to him as a “wolf.”
