1962-present
Who Is Jordan Belfort?
Jordan Belfort is a former stockbroker and convicted fraudster whose activities served as the basis for the 2013 movie The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio. Belfort had a natural talent as a salesman at an early age, operating a meat and seafood business in the 1980s. After that company went bust, Belfort began selling stocks in 1987. He was running his own investment operation, Stratton Oakmont, by 1989. The company made millions illegally, defrauding its investors. The Securities Exchange Commission began efforts to stop the company’s errant ways in 1992. In 1999, Belfort pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering. He was sentenced in 2003 to four years in prison but only served 22 months. Belfort published his first memoir, also titled The Wolf of Wall Street, in 2008. Today, he is an author and public speaker.
Quick Facts
FULL NAME: Jordan Ross Belfort
BORN: July 9, 1962
BIRTHPLACE: Queens, New York
SPOUSES: Denise Lombardo (c. 1985-1991), Nadine Malacuso (1991-2005), Anne Koppe (c. 2008-2020), Cristina Invernizzi (2021-present)
CHILDREN: Carter and Chandler
ASTROLOGICAL SIGN: Cancer
Early Life and Career
Born on July 9, 1962, in Queens, New York, Jordan Ross Belfort became infamous for his role in swindling millions of dollars from investors in the 1990s through his investment firm, Stratton Oakmont. The son of an accountant, Belfort grew up in a modest apartment in Queens. A natural salesman, he eventually launched a business selling meat and seafood, but the company soon went belly up.
In 1987, Belfort put his sales skills to use in a different arena. He started working for a brokerage firm, learning in the ins and outs of being a stockbroker. Two years later, Belfort was operating his own trading company, Stratton Oakmont.
“The Wolf of Wall Street” and Crimes
With his partner, Danny Porush, Belfort raked in cash using a “pump and dump” scheme. His brokers pushed stocks onto their unsuspecting clients, which helped inflate the stocks’ prices, then the company would sell off its own holdings in these stocks at a great profit.
Awash with cash, Belfort lived the high life. He spent lavishly, buying a mansion, sports cars and other expensive toys. He also developed a serious drug habit, becoming especially fond of Quaaludes. Belfort was involved in several accidents due to his drug use, including crashing his helicopter into his own yard and sinking his yacht—which once belonged to designer Coco Chanel—while under the influence. His addiction also contributed to the break-up of his second marriage.
Belfort encouraged reckless behavior in his employees, as well. Substance abuse, sex, and horseplay were the norm at Stratton Oakmont’s Long Island, New York, offices. An assistant at the firm was once paid $5,000 to allow some of the company’s traders to shave her head. The employees were also urged to live by the motto, “Don’t hang up until the customer buys or dies.” Their hard-sell tactics paid off in the short term. As Belfort told the New York Post, “It’s easier to get rich quick when you don’t follow the rules.”
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission sought to end Stratton Oakmont’s shady stock operation in 1992, claiming that the company had defrauded investors and manipulated stock prices. Two years later, Belfort found himself out of the brokerage business. Stratton Oakmont had reached a settlement with the SEC, which included a lifelong ban from working in the securities industry for Belfort and a fine for the company.
More legal woes followed for Belfort and his company. The National Association of Securities Dealers ejected Stratton Oakmont from its association in 1996, and the company was ordered to be liquidated to pay off its numerous fines and settlements the following year. In 1999, Belfort pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering. He cooperated with authorities in an effort to shorten his prison sentence.
In 2003, Belfort was sentenced to four years in prison and personally fined $110 million. He served 22 months in jail, where he developed an interest in writing. Comedian Tommy Chong, one of Belfort’s cellmates during this time, encouraged the former stockbroker to write about his experiences.
Life After Prison
In 2008, Belfort published his memoir, The Wolf of Wall Street, using one of his nicknames as the title. The book explored his meteoric rise and explosive crash in the financial world. The following year, Belfort released a second memoir, Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, which detailed his life after his arrest. In 2013, a film adaptation of The Wolf of Wall Street, directed by Martin Scorsese and starring Leonardo DiCaprio as Belfort, hit the big screen.
Belfort operates his own company, which provides sales training and markets Straight Line training programs aimed at building wealth and also does motivational speaking. Belfort claims to have straightened up his act. In an interview with the Daily Mail, he explained, “I’m a wolf who became a more benevolent character.”
In 2023, Belfort published another book, The Wolf of Investing: My Insider’s Playbook for Making a Fortune on Wall Street, a self-help guide for investing in the stock market the proper way.
Belfort is the subject of the 2026 docuseries The Real Wolf of Wall Street, which debuts on Paramount+ starting July 14. The trailer includes parts of interviews with Belfort’s former associates and promises to illustrate how his real-life behavior differed from that in Scorsese’s movie.
Wife Cristina Invernizzi and Children
Page Six reported that Belfort married his fourth and current wife, Cristina Invernizzi (also spelled as Christina on her official Instagram account), in February 2021 in a small ceremony in front of friends and family in Las Vegas. The couple had dated for two years.
Invernizzi is originally from Argentina. Her Instagram account identifies her as a model, licensed auctioneer and real estate broker, and human resources administrator.
Belfort has two children from his relationship with ex-wife Nadine Malacuso (previously Caridi): daughter Chandler (born July 1993) and son Carter (August 1995).
Belfort was also reportedly married to Denise Lombardo and Anne Koppe, with Belfort referring to the latter as his “ex-wife” on his podcast. However, their marriage was otherwise never publicly confirmed.
Wife Naomi in The Wolf of Wall Street
In addition to serving as the mother of Belfort’s two children, Malacuso, 58, was the inspiration for Belfort’s fictionalized wife, Naomi Lapaglia, in The Wolf of Wall Street movie adaptation. The character was played by Australian actor Margot Robbie in what became her breakout mainstream role.
“How accurate was the movie? I think that if you look at it through Jordan’s lens, it was really accurate,” Malacuso said in a TikTok video. “I think that if you look at it through my lens, it wasn’t and that makes sense because that’s actually how our marriage was.”
Malacuso previously told Newsweek the couple fought regularly, often over Belfort’s drug use. The couple were technically together from 1991 through 2005, but their marriage only lasted around eight years. Malacuso remarried, returned to school, and is now a licensed psychotherapist and author known as Dr. Nae.
Net Worth
Belfort’s restitution plan was altered in 2013, requiring him to pay a minimum of $10,000 per month for life.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, he has reportedly paid around only $14 million of the fine against him. This leaves him with an estimated net worth of negative-$100 million when factoring in his outstanding debt as of July 2026.
Quotes
- I know some people might say, ‘He is an evil guy, rotten to the core, I hope he burns at the stake.’ But people are entitled to redeem themselves. I made some terrible mistakes. But a leopard can change his spots.
- I’m a wolf who became a more benevolent character.
- It’s easier to get rich quick when you don’t follow the rules.
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