ДЇederal prosecutors and SEC officials involved in the case, however, have said, 'Stratton Oakmont was not a real Wall Street firm, either literally or figuratively'. It was all legitimate, nothing to do with liquidating stocks.

Ninety-five percent of the business was legitimate. My goal is to give more than I get, that's a sustainable form of success. At a motivational talk that he delivered in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, on May 19, 2014, Belfort stated: The pair remained friends after their release from prison, with Belfort crediting Chong for his new career direction as a motivational speaker and writer. Belfort shared a cell with Tommy Chong while serving his sentence, and Chong encouraged him to write about his experiences as a stockbroker. Belfort was ordered to pay back $110.4 million that he swindled from stock buyers. Д«elfort served 22 months of a four-year sentence at the Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, California, in exchange for a plea deal with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for running pump-and-dump scams that led to investor losses of approximately $200 million.

Belfort was then indicted for securities fraud and money laundering in 1999. Finally, in December 1996, the NASD expelled Stratton Oakmont, putting it out of business. Stratton Oakmont was under near-constant scrutiny from the National Association of Securities Dealers (now the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) from 1989 onward. The firm was targeted by law enforcement officials throughout nearly its entire history, and its notoriety inspired the film Boiler Room (2000), as well as the biopic The Wolf of Wall Street (2013). Stratton Oakmont at one point employed over 1,000 stock brokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than $1 billion, including being behind the initial public offering for footwear company Steve Madden. During his years at Stratton, Belfort led a life of lavish parties and intensive use of recreational drugs, especially methaqualone-sold to him under the brand name 'Quaalude'-that resulted in an addiction. Stratton Oakmont functioned as a boiler room that marketed penny stocks and defrauded investors with ' pump and dump' stock sales. Stratton Oakmont Д«elfort founded Stratton Oakmont as a franchise of Stratton Securities, then later bought out the original founder. Belfort says he was laid off after that firm experienced financial difficulties related to the Black Monday stock market crash of 1987. According to his memoirs and interviews, a family friend helped him find a job as a trainee stockbroker at L.F. The business ultimately failed, as he filed for bankruptcy at 25. He claims in interviews and his memoirs that the business was an initial success he grew his meat-selling business to employ several workers and sold 5,000 pounds (2,300 kilograms) of beef and fish a week. If you're here simply because you're looking to make a lot of money, you're in the wrong place.' Career Early ventures Д«elfort became a door-to-door meat and seafood salesman on Long Island, New York. He left after the dean of the school said to him on his first day: 'The golden age of dentistry is over. Belfort planned on using the money earned with Loewenstern to pay for dental school, and he enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. Belfort went on to graduate from American University with a degree in biology. Between completing high school and starting college, Belfort and his close childhood friend Elliot Loewenstern earned $20,000 selling Italian ice from styrofoam coolers to people at a local beach. His father Max and his mother Leah were both accountants.

Belfort was born in 1962 in the Bronx borough of New York City to Jewish parents.

Wolf of wall street