Jordan Belfort

**Jordan Belfort** is the titular main protagonist of Martin Scorsese's 2013 comedy drama film, *The Wolf of Wall Street*. He is the CEO of Stratton Oakmont Inc. who goes through various ups and downs through his career and life. He was inspired by real life stockbroker, Jordan Belfort.

He was portrayed by Leonardo DiCaprio, who also played Amsterdam Vallon in *Gangs of New York*, Howard Hughes in *The Aviator*, Billy Costigan in *The Departed*, Teddy Daniels in *Shutter Island* and Ernest Burkhart in *Killers of the Flower Moon*.

## Biography

### Early life

Jordan Ross Belfort was born on July 9, 1962 in Queens, New York. He was born to accountants, "Mad" Max and Leah Belfort. At a young age, Belfort had an unhealthy love of money and desire to become rich.

### 1987

By 1987, Jordan is happily married to a woman named Teresa Petrillo and lands a job at L.F. Rothschild. After first, Jordan begins to feel confident in his job, having formed a friendship with Mark Hanna. Unfortunately, on October 19, 1987, the stock market crashes and L.F. Rothschild closes down. Eventually, Jordan finds a job at a boiler room brokerage firm that specializes in penny stocks in Long Island. Around this time, Jordan meets with his neighbor, Donnie Azoff, who he forms a close bond with.

### 1989

Two years later, Jordan allows in his friends, Azoff, Nicky "Rugrat" Koskoff, Brad Bodnick, Alden "Sea Otter" Kupferberg, Chester Ming, Robbie Feinberg and Toby Welch into his new brokerage firm. Belfort names the firm "Stratton Oakmont Inc." in order for the business to sound professional, due to the firm being run on a pump and dump scheme. Soon, various ambitious financiers get jobs at Stratton after an exposé of Jordan was released by *Forbes*. This soon attracts FBI agent, Patrick Denham, who starts to investigate Jordan's actions. Around this time, Jordan also starts developing a lifestyle of doing dangerous drugs and having sex with prostitutes. Soon after, Belfort hires his father as CFO, as well as Manny Riskin, to help Jordan get away with his crimes. Later, at a beach party, Jordan meets model, Naomi Lapaglia, who he has an affair with and marries two year later.

### 1993

In 1993, after Jordan illegally secures the IPO of Steve Madden, Jordan makes $22 million in three hours, which brings more attention to the FBI. In order to hide his money, Jordan puts it in a Swiss bank account and put it in the name of Naomi's aunt, Emma, as well as the help of corrupt banker Jean-Jacques Saurel. Jordan also gets the help of Brad's in-laws and wife, they are able to smuggle the money into Switzerland. Later, Brad is arrested during a heated money exchange with Donnie, and afterwards Jordan and Donnie take various pills, which have no affect on the two. After Jordan is told by his PI that his phones are being wiretapped. Jordan tries to drive back to his house to stop Donnie from revealing secrets over the phone, but has various problems while doing it due to the delayed pills, leaving Jordan nearly paralyzed. Despite it taking a while, neither Jordan or Donnie are charged for the conversation of the phone. Later, Max advises Jordan to leave and lie low for a while, which Jordan opposes, due to his love for his company.

### 1996

Three years later, Jordan, Donnie, Naomi and Donnie's wife/cousin, Hildy take a yacht trip to Italy, where they then learn that Emma has died of a heart attack. In order to bypass border controls, Jordan tries to take a trip to Monaco, until they almost die during a thunderstorm, until they are saved by Italian sailors. After Jordan sees his plane that was meant to bring Jordan to Geneva explodes after a seagull crashes into the engine, Jordan attempts to sober up.

### 1998

In 1998, Jordan is arrested by the FBI, due to Saurel informed the FBI about Jordan's crimes after being charged with an unrelated offense. Jordan eventually decides to gather evidence on his colleagues in exchange for leniency after realizing the overwhelming evidence against him. Around this time, Naomi informs that she wants to divorce Jordan and take custody of their children. After this, Jordan attempts to kidnap their daughter, Skylar, until he crashes the car. Later, at the firm, Jordan wears a wire, but informs this to Donnie, through a slip of paper. The FBI find out about this, however, arrest Jordan and shut down Stratton Oakmont. Due to Jordan's help in the FBI arresting various Stratton Oakmont employees, Jordan's sentence is shortened to 36 months in a minimum security prison. In 2000, Jordan is released and makes a living hosting seminars on sales techniques.