How is The Net Worth of Jordan Belfort -$100m?

What is Jordan Belfort’s net worth?

The Usual Intro

Jordan Belfort is an entrepreneur, author, and motivational speaker most famously known from his memoir “The Wolf of Wall Street”. He was formerly a stockbroker and was charged with fraud crimes in 1999 to which he pleaded guilty and spent 22 months in prison.

He was ordered to pay the damaged parties $110 million in restitution. He has so far only paid $10 million, so his net worth sits at negative $100 million USD.

Before the Spotlight

Belfort was born on July 9, 1962, in Bronx, New York, to a Jewish family. Both of his parents were accountants. 

After completing high school, he and a friend sold Italian ice cream from styrofoam coolers at the beach. He graduated from American University with a degree in Biology.

He went on to pursue education in dentistry but left on the first day after a dean told him that the golden age of dentistry was over.

The Journey to Success

He started his career as a meat and seafood salesman. He was able to scale up and hire employees; however, the business ultimately proved unsuccessful. He filed for bankruptcy at age 25. 

He got a job as a trainee stockbroker but was laid off in 1987 due to the “Black Monday” stock market crash. Two years later, he founded Straton Oakmont Inc. The place ran as a boiler room that marketed penny stocks. He committed fraud using “pump and dump” schemes and managed to steal a lot of money from investors until 1996. At one point, the company had employed a thousand brokers and was involved in $1 billion worth of stock troubles. The company was under constant supervision of law enforcement. Stratton Oakmont was finally expelled by the NASD in 1996 and was shut down.

Belfort faced securities fraud and money laundering charges, and was found guilty. He served only 22 months in prison. His initial sentence was four years, but he made a plea deal with the FBI to sell out his partners. After his release, he became a motivational speaker and writer.

Belfort wrote two memoirs in prison, namely “The Wolf of Wall Street” and “Catching the Wolf of Wall Street.” In 2018, his books were envisioned into a movie starring Leonardo Di Caprio and were a blockbuster hit.

The Best Moments

• Founded Straton Oakmont Inc. in 1989.
  
• He created “The Wolf of Wall Street” in 2007, which was adapted into a movie in 2013.
  
• Made $50 million in one year at the peak of his career.
  
• Incorporated his motivational speaking company ‘Global Incorporations Inc.’ in 2016.

The Private Side

Belfort married Denise Lombardo in 1985. They divorced in 1991 due to infidelity accusations while he was running Straton Oakmont.

That same year, Belfort married model Nadine Caridi, whom he had met at a party. The pair had two children; however, they divorced in 2005 after she accused him of drug abuse, domestic violence, and infidelity. In 2008, Belfort started dating Anne Kopp. They got engaged in 2015 and are currently still together.

Belfort led an affluent lifestyle buying enormous homes, luxurious cars, and a super yacht. The yacht, Nadine, originally belonged to the famous designer Coco Chanel. His recreational usage of quaaludes got him addicted.

Following Belfort’s release from jail, the United States government requested restitution of the money he stole from over 1500 clients. He was ordered to pay $110 million, of which he has only paid $10 million till now. His mansion in Long Island, New York, was seized and sold by the government to pay back some of Belfort’s victims. Despite serving prison time, Belfort was the subject of another scandal with an Australian employment company, Career Pathways.

Belfort is an active investor in cryptocurrency startups and had $300,000 stolen from his wallet by a hacker in 2021. He enjoys playing tennis.

Jordan Belfort’s Related YouTube Video

Famous Quotes of Jordan Belfort

Here are some quotes from the stock market guru Jordan Belfort:

• “The only thing standing between you and your goal is the bullshit story you keep telling yourself as to why you can’t achieve it.”
  
• “When you live your life by poor standards, you inflict damage on everyone who crosses your path, especially those you love.”
  
• “If you want to be rich, never give up. People tend to give up. If you have persistence, you will come out ahead of most people. More importantly, you will learn. When you do something, you might fail. But that’s not because you’re a failure. It’s because you have not learnt enough. Do it differently each time. One day, you will do it right. Failure is your friend.”

The Social World

Jordan Belfort is currently active on social media. Here are the links to his official accounts and his recent following stats: 

• Instagram: 2.1 million followers.
• Facebook: 985k followers.
• YouTube: 595k subscribers.
• Twitter: 671k followers.

Lessons for Entrepreneurs

Here are some success lessons we can learn from Belfort’s financial knowledge and motivational speaking:

1. Finance. Belfort encourages people to avoid stocks that seem to good to be true and avoid paying ‘experts’ on financial advice regarding the stock market.
   
2. Learning from mistakes. Belfort admits that he got too greedy while working as a stockbroker, which ended in his downfall.
   
3. Exploitation and malpractice. Belfort’s case can be a deterrent against malpractice in the finance and commerce industries. He preaches the consequences of malpractice in the financial system as a motivational speaker.
   
4. Sales and marketing. Belfort often preaches to his audience to stick with their customers and have a solid strategy to get better sales. It is necessary to live up to the clients’ expectations.

The Unusual Stuff

These are some of the most surprising and interesting facts about Jordan Belfort:

• Jordan Belfort was not called “The Wolf of Wall Street” as a stockbroker. He came up with the title while he was writing the memoir in prison.
  
• Belfort served a reduced sentence in return for cooperation with prosecutors. He testified against his partners in crime.
  
• He stole approximately $200 million from people when he was active.
  
• In 2021, Belfort’s lost $300,000 in digital tokens after his crypto wallet got hacked.

Answering Frequent Questions

Does Belfort invest in crypto now?

Belfort was initially skeptical of crypto; however, he changed his mind after the massive rise in crypto’s value. He now has investments in multiple NFT and crypto startups.

What happened to Belfort’s yacht?

He sank it in 1996 off the east coast of Sardinia. He decided to personally sail out in high winds despite his captain’s advice. The ship’s forehead hatch sustained damage from turbulent waves.

Where is Belfort now?

Belfort currently spends much of his time traveling around the world giving motivational speeches. His residence is in Los Angeles, California.

The Closing Remarks

Belfort became a celebrity after his memoir was turned into a movie “The Wolf of Wall Street”, starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Although his skills as a broker are noteworthy, he failed to utilize his talent to earn an honest living for himself. His current net worth is estimated to be negative $100 million as he is under legal orders to pay $110 million in restitution to the parties that sustained financial loss. Today, he speaks, writes, and travels the world.

Featured image credit: seeshooteatrepeat / Shutterstock.com