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Jordan Belfort was born on July 9th 1962, in the Bronx New York -
Jordan was raised in the Bronx and spent his childhood there, until he graduated high school and went onto college -
Belfort starts his first business after college, being a door-to-door meat and seafood salesman. -
Belforts business ended up failing and he filed for bankruptcy at age 25. -
After going bankrupt Belfort was introduced to a family friend who go this a job at L.F. Rothschild but was only there for about 6 month before Black Monday hit and the firm got shut down.
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Belfort proceeds to start his own stock broking company called Stratton Oakmont. this is where he would buy and penny stocks and defrauded investors with "pump and dump" stock sales where would live a lavish party lifestyle consuming recreational drugs.
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Jordan had over 1,000 stock brokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than $1 billion and became known as the Wolf of Wall Street -
Stratton Oakmont was under near-constant scrutiny from the National Association of Securities Dealers from 1989 onward.
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Finally, in December 1996, the NASD expelled Stratton Oakmont, putting it out of business.
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Belfort was then indicted for securities fraud and money laundering in 1999. -
Belfort 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
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Belfort was ordered to pay back $110.4 million that he swindled from stock buyers.
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Belfort shared a cell with Tommy Chong while serving his sentence, and Chong encouraged him to write about his experiences as a stockbroker. The pair remained friends after their release from prison, with Belfort crediting Chong for his new career direction as a motivational speaker and writer