| Human Profile | |
| Name: | Jordan Ross Belfort |
| Birthday: | July 9, 1962 (age 63 years), Born in The Bronx, New York |
| Height: | 5'7" (170 cm) |
| Education: | American University (BS), Biology, University of Maryland School of Dentistry (No Degree), Dentistry |
| Subscribers: | 784K |
| Views: | 75,599,374 |
| YouTube Revenue: | $75.6K - $378K |
| Videos: | 957 |
| Channel Created: | November 2008 |
Overview
Jordan Ross Belfort is an American entrepreneur, author, and speaker, infamous for founding the fraudulent brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont, where he orchestrated “pump and dump” schemes leading to his conviction for securities fraud and money laundering, and for authoring “The Wolf of Wall Street,” which was adapted into a major film.
Latest News (Dec 27, 2025): The film "The Wolf of Wall Street" recently saw a significant surge on streaming charts, moving up 171 places to rank 217th on the JustWatch Daily Streaming Charts as of December 26, 2025. Additionally, on December 25, 2025, Leonardo DiCaprio expressed his only regret about his collaborations with director Martin Scorsese, including "The Wolf of Wall Street," wishing he had been more of a "voyeur" to learn more about Scorsese's directing process.
Early Life and Education
Jordan Ross Belfort was born on July 9, 1962, in the Bronx, New York, and was raised in a Jewish family in Bayside, Queens. His parents, Max and Leah Belfort, were both accountants. From a young age, Belfort demonstrated an entrepreneurial drive. During one summer between high school and college, he and a friend earned $20,000 by selling Italian ice from coolers at a local beach.
Belfort attended American University and graduated with a degree in biology. He initially planned to attend dental school and enrolled at the University of Maryland School of Dentistry. However, he left on the first day after the dean stated that dentistry was no longer a field for earning a great deal of money.
Career Beginnings
After leaving dental school, Belfort started a door-to-door meat and seafood sales business on Long Island. The venture initially saw success and grew to a point where he had several employees. However, the business ultimately failed, and he filed for bankruptcy at the age of 25.
Following this, a family friend helped him get a position as a trainee stockbroker at L.F. Rothschild in 1987. This role introduced him to the culture of Wall Street. Belfort was laid off from the firm after the “Black Monday” stock market crash of 1987. He then moved to a brokerage firm that specialized in penny stocks, where he honed his aggressive sales techniques.
Stratton Oakmont
In 1989, Belfort founded his own brokerage firm, Stratton Oakmont. The firm operated as an over-the-counter brokerage house and became known for its “boiler room” tactics, where a team of brokers would use high-pressure sales scripts to push speculative stocks onto investors. This “pump and dump” scheme involved artificially inflating the price of stocks, after which the firm would sell its own holdings at a significant profit, defrauding investors.
At its peak, Stratton Oakmont employed over 1,000 stockbrokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than one billion dollars, including the initial public offering for the footwear company Steve Madden. The firm’s activities and the lavish lifestyle of its employees, which included extravagant parties and drug use, drew the attention of law enforcement.
Legal Issues and Reinvention
The National Association of Securities Dealers (now the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) began investigating Stratton Oakmont in 1989. In 1996, the firm was shut down. In 1999, Belfort pleaded guilty to securities fraud and money laundering. He was sentenced to four years in prison in 2003 but served 22 months after entering a plea deal with the FBI, for which he provided testimony against his former partners and subordinates. He was also ordered to pay back $110 million to the investors he had defrauded.
While in prison, Belfort shared a cell with Tommy Chong, who encouraged him to write about his experiences. After his release, Belfort reinvented himself as an author and motivational speaker. He published two memoirs, “The Wolf of Wall Street” (2008) and “Catching the Wolf of Wall Street” (2009). His story was adapted into a 2013 film, “The Wolf of Wall Street,” directed by Martin Scorsese. Belfort remains active as a sales trainer and speaker, marketing programs based on his “Straight Line” sales psychology.
Personal Life
Jordan Ross Belfort has been married multiple times. He divorced his first wife, Denise Lombardo, during his time running Stratton Oakmont. In 1991, he married Nadine Caridi, a British-born model with whom he had two children, a daughter named Chandler and a son named Carter. Their marriage ended in divorce in 2005. He later married Anne Koppe, and in 2021, he married Cristina Invernizzi.