All language subtitles for American Greed s09e08 The Real Wolf of Wall Street.eng

In this episode of American Greed,
convicted stockbroker Jordan Belcourt,

a .k .a. the Wolf of Wall Street.

He is funny, colorful, he can be
charming as long as you stay ten feet

your wallet in your back pocket. I had a
gift to get up before the crowd and

sell, manipulate.

And I could have used it for good or I
could have used it for evil. I used it

for evil. When Hollywood turns his life
of sex, drugs, and crime into a

blockbuster,

His victims feel cheated again.

Too many people walk out of a movie and
think they have seen the story. And it

leaves out significant parts of the
story, not the least of which is 1 ,500

people that lost real money.

He was about as close as you could come
to being the financial serial killer.

This wild party looks like an early 90s
beer commercial written by a teenage boy

and funded by an oil baron.

Yes, that's a helicopter landing on a
yacht.

What a great life, huh?

But this is no fantasy.

It's just another day in the life of
Jordan Belfort, head of the brokerage

Stratton Oakmont.

If we all stick together, next year at
this time, we'll be a legend on Wall

Street, guys, and that's our goal.

All right?

It's an unbelievable turnaround for the
young master of the universe.

Just four years ago, Belfort was at rock
bottom.

It's late October 1987.

25 -year -old Jordan Belfort prepares
for his first day as a stockbroker at

prestigious Wall Street firm L .F.
Rothschild.

The enthusiastic young man recently
passed his Series 7 exam and is eager to

begin a career in the world of high
finance, as he tells CNBC's Jane Wells

2007 interview.

My first day I walk in, and I watch
people in their mid to late 20s making

a million, a million dollars a year in
this raging bull market of the mid -80s.

Belfort is a born salesman.

The son of two accountants from Bayside,
Queens.

He ran his own meat and seafood delivery
business before making the leap to Wall

Street.

This guy was driven from the get -go.
He's very eager to please.

He was in many ways self -taught. You
knew you could sell. Knew I could sell.

You know, this is going to be my future.
I'm going to be a broker. Look at all

these people getting rich. It'll be me
too.

But in a cruel turn of events, Belfort
tells Wells that his first day on the

is Black Monday, October 19, 1987.

That Monday morning, I come in bright
-eyed and bushy -tailed, and the market

crashes 508 points on my first day as a
stockbroker.

Okay, and all of a sudden, everyone's
like, it's over.

The new broker is soon out of work, but
refuses to give up.

While flipping through the classifieds,
Belfort's wife spots a job 30 miles away

in Hoppog, Long Island.

I answered the ad. I went down to this
place, and I walked in. I was shocked.

I was utterly shocked, and it was the
first time I really walked into a penny

stock firm.

The firm is the Investor Center, a penny
stock shop that pushes risky, small

-time businesses for anywhere from 10 to
99 cents a share.

Much to Belfort's surprise, he learns
that the brokers make a healthy

commission. As the manager explained to
me, he's like, listen, your commission

is, you get 50 % of the bid in the end.

And I'm like...

So if someone sends in a quarter million
dollars in a trade, I get to keep 125

,000? He's like, well, yeah, and no, it
doesn't really work that way in the real

world. No one will send that much money
in for a penny stock.

The manager tells Belfort only small
-time investors buy penny stocks.

But that doesn't stop the young broker
from dreaming big.

I was literally lying in bed one day and
the light bulb went off. And I remember

lying in bed looking up at the ceiling
saying, I wonder what would happen if we

just started calling all rich people.

In 1989, at the age of 27, Belfort puts
his theory to the test.

He starts up his own brokerage firm,
Stratton Oakmont, with his friend Danny

Porish and a dozen salesmen from Long
Island.

The company eventually opens an office
in the appropriately named village of

Lake Success.

We went out and bought these, they were
called Dun & Bradstreet Leaves, and they

were the names of business owners that
had...

businesses in excess of a million
dollars a year in sales.

And that became our target market.

To his dismay, Belfort discovers that
his former boss was correct.

Wealthy investors don't buy penny
stocks.

And that night, I went home and it hit
me. And I said, you know what? I know

what's wrong.

They never heard of the stock.

They never heard of the broker term.
You're fighting too much of an uphill

battle. What we need to do is we need to
start off with a big stock.

Belfort writes a new pitch for his
brokers, one that emphasizes building

with clients through established blue
-chip stocks.

The technique becomes known as the
Stratton two -step.

The blue -chips were used to basically
lure the people in. That was what they

called the first trade.

They would do it with an IBM or an
Eastman Kodak, for example. Those are

companies that everybody knows about.

Gregory Coleman is an FBI special agent
who spent years investigating Stratton's

sales methods.

Once clients make a little money on the
blue -chip stocks, Coleman says

Stratton's brokers then focus on the
real business at hand, pitching the more

profitable penny stocks.

Once the customer sent the money in,
shortly thereafter they would get a call

about a second trade.

But rather than pitching existing penny
stocks, Belford and Porish start

underwriting their own initial public
offerings.

Stratton's house stocks often feature
businesses like karate schools,

independent movie studios, backyard
technology startups.

He'd sneak in these IPOs, these obscure
little IPOs, and he would say, oh, you

know, I'm telling you, you can get in,
it doesn't cost very much, you're going

to make a lot of money, trust me.

Belford would put their spin on it. His
brokers would put their spin on it. And

so these sort of undiscovered, unknown
companies were touted as the next

Microsoft, the next Dell computers.

In an unusual move, Stratton sets the
IPO prices well above a typical penny

stock offering.

He would try and get them listed on the
NASDAQ over the National Market

Exchange. So although they were the same
type of companies, they weren't selling

at 5, 10, 15 cents per share. They would
start at $4, $5, and $6.

Belfort's talent for spinning a tail
makes for a winning strategy.

Under his direction, it's not unusual
for the value of Stratton's house stocks

to skyrocket, reaching $10, $15, even
$20 a share.

In just a matter of months, the company
is making a killing on these diamonds in

the rough.

I always say brokers don't sell stocks.

Brokers sell a story.

And once they convince the public of the
story, the public buys the stocks.

And that's what Belfort did.

Next on American Greed, the lure of
quick and easy cash sends Belfort down a

reckless path.

At one point, I would wake up pretty
much every day and try to think of new

schemes that I could pull and new ways
to rip people off.

It's not Wall Street.

But in the early 1990s, Lake Success,
Long Island is a hotspot for aspiring

young stockbrokers.

Under the leadership of Jordan Belfort,
Stratton Oakmont becomes known as the

place where you can make big cash by
selling the hottest new stocks.

In 1991, the company makes commission
revenues of nearly $30 million.

I was the best training ground for
stockbrokers. You know, go to Stratton,

become a trained killer.

But Stratton isn't your typical brokery.

Rather than employ Wall Street veterans,
they instead have a unique hiring

process.

Stratton did something different.

They wanted basically uneducated,
unexperienced people to join their firm.

You didn't even need a college degree?

You didn't need a high school diploma.

You didn't need anything.

All you needed was to come into the
room, swear loyalty to the Stratton way

life, and we would show you how to get
rich.

They basically wanted...

wanted us stupid so they could train us
in their model.

Carl is a former Stratton employee who
says he's gone on to be a respected

businessman and requests anonymity. He
remembers the frenzy surrounding his

first day on the job.

They would bring in everybody for job
interviews, and they would put you in a

room. They would ask, is anybody
licensed in any other brokerage firm

And if anybody raised their hand...

We'd throw them out right then and
there.

New employees are assigned to work the
phones as cold callers, feeding clients

to Belfort and the other salesmen.

At its height, Stratton Oakmont employs
more than 1 ,000 people, mostly young

men.

We walk into this huge room, and all it
is is guys sitting at tables. We were

given leads to call, and we called our
leads.

I had to get people on the phone all day
long.

The work is tedious, but the rewards are
high, especially if you get promoted to

broker.

One kid that I knew who was there was
barely 22 years old, driving a brand

-new Ferrari.

Another kid who was 24 driving a
Porsche.

There were so many kids, and everyone
was making so much money. It was almost

like a self -contained society. In a
way, it was like a cult.

And Jordan Belfort is the cult leader.

Every morning, Belfort delivers a fiery
motivational speech, rallying the troops

around the hot stock of the day.

He would convince them that they were
going to sell, sell, sell that stock.

were supposed to rip the client's hearts
out through the phone. I said to my

broker, okay.

I want you to do this, I want you to do
that, I want you to rip their heads off.

Which, by the way, I stole from the
movie Wall Street. That was the best

ever, I thought. So I had to kind of use
those words to be like Michael Douglas.

Because they're sheep, and sheep get
slaughtered.

Reading from Belfort Scripts, Stratton's
army connects with clients across the

country.

Callers are expected to follow Belfort
Scripts down to the word.

We always figured ourselves as movie
actors. We were given a script every

and we would pitch whatever stock they
told us to pitch.

Belford calls his sales technique the
straight -line philosophy.

Callers are taught to do whatever it
takes to close the deal.

Stratton prints out ready -made
comebacks to client excuses like, I

this company, I have another broker, and
let me talk to my wife.

You know, we would always say, I
understand, Mr. Jones. Let me ask you,

would your wife be the most happiest
with?

Would your wife be happy with you making
a good investment and making money on

your investments and on your future?
Yes.

Well, that's exactly what I'm looking to
do here for you today.

Bob Sharon is the owner of a woman's
garment company in Los Angeles.

In March of 1992, he gets an unexpected
phone call from a Stratton broker.

Your name was given to me by a classmate
from Harvard Business School.

And he said, I made him a lot of money
in stock, and he gave me your name. Are

you interested?

Bob's business has recently had a good
run.

He's sitting on some extra cash and
jumped at the opportunity to expand his

portfolio.

Without ever checking in with his old
college pal, Bob agrees to buy 300

of a blue -chip pharmaceutical company.

I know I bought 300 shares and it was, I
want to say, $9 ,000

and I made $11 ,000.

So, okay, feeling pretty good.

Soon after, Bob invests over $7 ,000 on
a Stratton house stock, another

pharmaceutical company, and makes a $3
,000 profit.

Riding a winning streak, Bob's broker
convinces him it's time to go big.

They were very good at figuring your
trigger points.

Mine was, I'm an intelligent risk taker
and will reap the rewards from taking

those risks.

Bob invests $65 ,000 on another can't
-miss Stratton house stock,

DVI Health Services.

My impressions are this could be big.

This could be a 25%, 30 % returns.

This warrants some big money.

In the Chicago suburbs, Tom Boccorne has
a similar encounter with a Stratton

broker.

A married father of two, Tom recently
purchased his father's construction

business. The company is successful,
doing upwards of $25 million a year in

business. But Tom needs cash to pay back
his father.

I had bought the company for, I think, a
million five, and I had to pay it off.

So I was looking for other ways to do
it.

The broker encourages Tom to invest $20
,000 in a blue chip stock.

Within days, he makes a 10 % return.

The broker then pitches Tom on a hot
Stratton IPO,

Aqua Natural, a water purification
company.

You go to a grocery store, and you bring
in your own containers, and you fill

up. With pure water.

I thought that was a good idea because
the local grocery store did have it

around here.

The stock is another winner.

Tom doubles his investment in just four
days.

His broker suggests he rolled his
earnings into other Stratton House

I think after the first month I was up
to a few hundred thousand. It was easy

money.

Coming up on American Greed.

While Stratton's clients are enjoying
their newfound wealth, back on Long

Island, the brokers find creative ways
to celebrate their success. Money,

partying, quaaludes, cocaine.

I mean, it's like a young man's fantasy.

Before he turns 30 years old, Jordan
Belfort is making $20 million a year as

head of Stratton Oakmont.

Befitting a man of great wealth, he buys
a waterfront mansion in the Hamptons.

His main residence is a $1 .7 million
mansion in the wealthy village of Old

Brookville. And I bought the house from
Richie Grasso, back then was the

president of the New York Stock
Exchange.

He even upgrades his marriage.

Belfort divorces his first love and
marries a beer commercial model, who he

affectionately calls the Duchess.

That's mine.

Among his toys is a Ferrari Testarossa,
just like Don Johnson drives in Miami

Vice.

And a 167 -foot yacht that once belonged
to Coco Chanel.

And my wife begged me not to buy it,
which is why I had to buy it. Because

she said, you can't. I said, I got to
buy it. So I wrote the check right away

for the yacht. For how much?

Five and a half million.

With so much cash on hand, Belfort
develops another expensive habit.

Drug addiction.

Belfort dabbles in cocaine and
prescription medications.

But his favorite vice is Quaalude.

He used the 1970s -era sedative and
party drug nearly every day, often

himself a drooling mess.

I had this rip -roaring drug habit. I
used to go scuba diving on five

I was on the bottom. I couldn't come up
because I was so stoned. He was flying a

helicopter on quaaludes without a
pilot's license and lived.

He told me he was taking 22 different
drugs at one point. I don't know how

that's physically possible.

The party continues back at the Stratton
offices.

The atmosphere often resembles a
fraternity house rather than a

brokerage. It was really just a culture
of debauchery and what the

drug dealers have in there.

Sex in the office is common.

Young female assistants are passed
around almost as much as the drugs.

Belfort once offers a female broker $10
,000 to shave her head.

Other employees are paid to perform
outrageous stunts.

I remember somebody bringing in a thing
like in the carnivals where you could

get electrocuted and they would pay
someone $10 ,000 if they could hold it

way. Somehow you just had a group of 13
-year -old boys who never grew up.

Making this outrageous decadence
possible is the lucrative IPOs that

underwrites.

Stratton ultimately takes 34 companies
public, and nearly every one is a

But Stratton's success isn't what it
appears to be.

For years, they've manipulated every
facet of their house stocks.

Stratton was a classic pump -and -dump
securities firm.

Joel Cohen is a former assistant United
States attorney who eventually

prosecutes Belfort.

They would pump up the price of the
stock by getting innocent investors to

it based upon blatantly false
representations about what it was worth.

The Fed says Stratton has been running
the scam since the firm's earliest days.

In order for Belfort to manipulate his
security offerings, it relates to supply

and demand.

What Belfort does is he has to constrict
the supply. He has to reduce the supply

while simultaneously increasing the
demand.

The demand side is easy.

Stratton pays its young employees big
commissions to push the risky stocks and

drive up their price.

So the question becomes, how does
Belfort constrict the supply?

According to the feds, Stratton secretly
hoards massive amounts of new issue

stock before it goes public.

Belfort sashes the shares with
accomplices he calls...

Rat holes.

Many of them were friends. Some of them
were people that sold them cars. One

famously was the house Quaaludes dealer
for the Stratton Oakmont firm.

Rat holes are instructed to hold on to
the shares until Stratton is able to

up the price of the stock.

A rat hole may get 100 ,000 shares.

They would get the stock at 5.

It would go to 10. It would go to 15. It
would go to 20. It would go to 25.

And when it got to 25, they would then
flip it back to Stratton.

At the peak price, Stratton then sells
the rat hole shares to unsuspecting

investors.

The increase in volume eventually causes
the price to plummet, leaving investors

holding massive quantities of worthless
stock.

So all of the rat holes would make huge
profits off of a stock that in fact was

worth nothing or next to nothing, and
then the entire price would collapse

thereafter because there was no
legitimate market for these stocks other

the victims.

As part of the arrangement, rat holes
agree to give the profits back to

while receiving a kickback in return for
their assistance.

For many of them, they would get a check
for $25 ,000 or $50 ,000 or cash for

$100 ,000, some piece of the profits.

Investors like Bob Sharon have no idea
they're pawns in Stratton's game.

After making a profit on his initial
investments, Bob gradually starts losing

money on all his Stratton house stocks.

He calls his broker to sell his shares,
but they won't comply.

At first, he's insisting that, no, no,
no, you can't get out, you've got to do

this, that we've got bigger ones here.
But now, by then, I probably had $250

,000 tied up in.

The next day, he discovers that his
broker sold the shares, but then flipped

into another stock without his consent.

The new stock is plummeting even faster
than before.

Now we were just, I mean, screaming at
the top of our lungs at each other, and

him screaming back, or too good to ever
make any money in anything, you know,

you're a worthless piece of crap.

Bob eventually gets his broker to return
what money he has left, around $80

,000.

But his losses are well over $100 ,000.

Outside of Chicago, Tom Bocconi's losses
are even greater.

Well, I had an account there with about
a million in it, and one day they just

took it all and put it in stocks, two
different stocks, two or three different

stocks. And then within days, it was
almost gone.

In late 1991, the Securities and
Exchange Commission is officially

the firm after receiving numerous
complaints.

Several months later, the FBI is brought
in when it's determined that Stratton's

misdeeds are greater than previously
thought.

We weren't involved in securities cases
before that. It was mid -1992. They

formed a brand new squad whose sole
function was to investigate Wall Street

-related crimes.

Next on American Greed, feeling the
heat, Jordan Belfort devises an

international plan to stash his ill
-gotten cash.

In the criminal insanity of breaking the
law, it was like, oh, well, you know,

next step, Switzerland.

After three years of illegally raking in
the cash,

The heat is now on Stratton Oakmont.

Several investors have filed complaints
against the firm, and many have sought

settlements.

The SEC sends agents to the brokerage to
scour their records, but Belfort makes

their stay an uncomfortable one.

He cranks the air conditioning to
freezing levels and bugs the room.

I said, these guys are dumb enough to
set up shop in my own conference room.

They're going to run their
investigation.

They kind of deserved it, I thought.

While the SEC investigates, Belfort
makes plans to protect his fortune.

In August 1993, he flies to Europe to
meet with officials at a private bank in

Geneva, Switzerland.

Belfort was schooled on different ways
of setting up bank accounts and

corporations through these people in
Switzerland to hide and disguise his

Belfort's wife has an aunt who lives in
London, a 65 -year -old retired

schoolteacher.

Belfort opens a Swiss bank account in
the woman's name.

According to Belfort, he just sort of
represented that he was trying to evade

some taxes, and she agreed to do it.
What did your wife's aunt think of the

whole thing?

Oh, she thought it was fabulous.

Over the next year, Belfort begins
smuggling cash to the bank through his

Quaalude dealer.

whose wife is a Swiss citizen.

She was born, raised, and grew up in
Switzerland. She spoke French. She knew

way around the banking system.

So it was sort of the perfect couple to
bring in.

The FBI says the couple transport over
$1 .3 million overseas.

Almost all of it was done in suitcases.

It was done, they would hide it in their
socks and different bags. They would

break it up among different pieces of
luggage.

In December 1993, Belfort finds himself
flush with even more cash when Stratton

embarks on one of its biggest IPOs yet,
Steve Madden Shoes. Steve Madden was a

good story. They used to call him the
cobbler, the guy who's selling shoes out

of the trunk of his car. Unlike most of
the Stratton deals, it actually had

value and a real idea with products that
people really want to buy.

Madden is a childhood friend of
Belfort's right -hand man, Danny Porish.

He's worked as a rat hole for Stratton
over the past two years.

But on this day, it's his company that's
the star of the show.

Stratton's army of callers can't sell
the shares fast enough.

Bellport claims Stratton makes $23
million in just two hours.

Stock was manipulated in the same ways
that the other IPOs that Stratton

controlled were manipulated.

But the good times don't last long.

In February 1994, the SEC has enough
evidence to take Stratton to court for

securities fraud.

Stratton's shelf life was short. The
lawsuits were building up against them.

They could hear the footsteps.

Under pressure, Stratton agrees to a
settlement with the agency.

The company doesn't admit to any
wrongdoing, but it agrees to pay a $2 .5

million penalty.

As part of the agreement, Belfort must
personally pay a $100 ,000 fine and

the company he founded.

In 1994, Belfort's barred from the
business for life.

They really put a great spin on it, you
know, that he could have won, he could

have beat it, but he didn't want to drag
Stratton down, so he's going to step

down for the good of the firm.

In the aftermath of the judgment,
Stratton arranges a deal to pay Belfort

whopping $180 million for his stake in
the company.

He'll be paid $12 million a year over
the next 15 years.

This is $180 million for a company that
had no intrinsic value. If you take away

manipulation, the only thing that
company was worth was the rent on a

in a parking lot in suburban Long
Island.

Danny Porridge is officially named the
head of Stratton. But despite the

Belfort is far from being out of the
picture.

What he was doing was operating Stratton
from behind the scenes, just no longer

coming to the office, but fully
participating in all the remaining IPOs

did. It didn't miss a beat, really,
because we always figured that Belfort

really in charge anyway.

With the civil case settled, the FBI
continues to pursue criminal charges

against Belford and Stratton.

But its case is proving to be difficult.

Because the brokers and the other
employees were making so much money, he

lured them in and he created a very
loyal following.

So there was no incentive to cooperate
with us at all.

Next on American Greed, while Belfort
sits back and counts his cash, the FBI

gets an unexpected break in their case.

I remember making that call, and they
were extremely excited that we had the

evidence of which we had.

How else did Jordan Belfort spend his
dirty money?

Find out at cnbcprime .com slash
American Greed.

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-scenes dirt?

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We'll be right there.

By 1994, Jordan Belfort finds himself in
a peculiar place.

Despite being barred from the securities
industry, he's still making millions

off his connections to Stratton Oakmont.

On paper, my net worth was just off the
charts. I had, like, stakes in 20

different companies. Half of them were
public, half of them were about to go

public. I had cash in the bank. So on
paper, you were worth? I had to hide,

like, $200 -something million.

But Belfort also knows that it could
come tumbling down at any minute.

While he manages to get away from the
SEC, FBI agent Gregory Coleman is on his

tail, and Belfort isn't enjoying the
chase.

I would hear about Coleman knocked on
this door or that door. And I was like,

my luck, I get the guy. I get Tommy Lee
Jones chasing me. That's how I felt,

okay?

While Belfort continually looks over his
shoulder, an unlikely and completely

unrelated event all but seals his fate.

A thousand miles away in Miami, U .S.
Customs agents are working an undercover

money laundering case involving a South
American drug cartel.

We were purporting to be.

Narcotics smugglers. So we were
soliciting in a sting type of provision

Swiss bankers.

David Marwell is a special agent in
charge for Homeland Security and a

special agent with the U .S. Customs
Service. So in November of 1994.

At the culmination of the investigation,
we arrested a multitude of people, as

well as a couple of Swiss bankers at the
time in Florida.

Belfort's banker just happens to be one
of the men arrested. With his back

against the wall, the Swiss banker opens
the vault on his secrets, telling the

feds that Jordan Belfort is one of his
clients.

Marwell calls the SEC to deliver the
news.

The SEC was kind of shocked.

And they immediately said, you've got to
reach out to this FBI agent by the name

of Greg Coleman. Agent Coleman has long
suspected Belfort is illegally moving

cash overseas.

He now has proof.

It confirmed our suspicions. It
confirmed that I was not going down a

was going to lead to a dead end. So it
was, in some senses, a very big score.

While the FBI solidifies its case... In
1996, the end finally arrives for

Stratton Oakmont.

In June, the National Association of
Securities Dealers begins proceedings

against the firm for their fraudulent
activities.

By December, Stratton is expelled from
the industry, closing its doors for

And everyone knew it was coming. We
thought we were being persecuted

of course.

Obviously, we weren't.

In the fall of 1998, the FBI and
Department of Justice finally have all

information they need to take Belfort
down.

At September, the FBI arrest Jordan
Belfort and Danny Porridge for money

laundering and securities fraud.

Their bail is set at $10 million each.

Belfort came up with the money within
three days.

He just put up $10 million in cash and
jewels and a brink truck had arrived

his wife's jewelry.

The feds tell Belfort they know
everything.

The money laundering, the Swiss banker,
the rat holes.

Faced with the threat of 25 years in
prison, Belfort makes a decision.

Do you fight it? Do you plea?

Or do you cooperate?

And in my mind, you know, fighting it
wasn't really an option. It was the

toughest decision that I ever had to
make. I didn't really have much of a

choice.

Belfort agrees to cooperate with the
feds, telling them intimate details of

the scam operated.

The hard thing was doing it in an
orderly way because there was so much to

cover. There were so many entrails to
the fraud they were engaged in. Over the

next 12 months, the wolf becomes a rat.

Belfort agrees to wear a wire and meet
with his friends and associates.

Several former Strattonites are now
running their own crooked firms.

where they continue the scams they learn
from their mentors.

They were actually operating four or
five other firms, which were

the same kinds of fraud. And we wanted
to stop that crime from happening

it was spreading.

Belfort secretly tapes dozens of
conversations, such as this meeting in

associate offers to hide Belfort's money
in Asia.

He became actually a very, very good
cooperator. He made tapes, many, many

telephone tapes, many body recordings
for us against a number of people.

In September 1999,

Belfort and Porish officially plead
guilty to securities fraud and money

laundering. The men admit they
manipulated the stocks of 34 companies,

investors over $200 million.

The exact number of victims is unknown,
but it's believed to be more than 1 ,500

people.

Well, there were dozens, probably
hundreds and hundreds of investors who

the bulk of their life savings because
of what these guys did.

Next on American Greed, Jordan Belfort
goes to prison and experiences some high

times while in the joint.

Now, this is how crazy the Jordan
Belfort story is.

The Quaaludes, the parties, and then
when he goes to prison, who is his

cellmate? Tommy Chom.

In 2003, almost four years after
pleading guilty to running a stock,

dump scheme, Jordan Belfort and Danny
Porish are both sentenced to four years

federal prison.

Despite stealing over $200 million, the
men avoid a lengthy sentence.

Back in the time frame that Belfort and
Porridge were sentenced, it really just

was not viewed as a serious crime as it
is now.

Their cooperation with the government
significantly reduces the sentences.

Thanks to their assistance, the
Department of Justice is able to get

on dozens of Belfort's associates.

There were probably 75 people that were
prosecuted, people in the securities

industry, accountants, lawyers.

As part of their punishment, Belfort and
Porish must jointly pay $110 million in

restitution. The men are required to pay
50 % of all future earnings toward the

fund. The first down payment is made
when the government seizes more than $10

million worth of assets from Belfort.

Cars, houses, jewelry, bank accounts,
all of those assets are ultimately

forfeited to the government.

Belfort's home in Old Brookville was
seized by us. His beach home in

Southampton, Long Island. In 2004,
Belfort is sent to the Taft Federal

Correctional Institution outside of
Bakersfield, California.

After living a drug -fueled existence
for most of the past decade, it's only

fitting that his cellmate is none other
than Tommy Chong.

One half of the stoner comedy duo Cheech
and Chong.

Of all the inmates in the entire federal
prison system, he gets Tommy Chong as

his cellmate, who was in prison for, I
think, selling bongs across state lines

back then.

While in prison, Belfort entertains his
cellmate with wild tales of life at

Stratton. The two become close friends.

You know, what do you do when you're in
jail? You have a lot of time, so you

tell stories. I would tell him stories,
and he would tell me stories. I mean, he

would say to me, God, you should write a
book.

Belfort follows Chong's advice and
starts putting pen to paper.

He also enters a prison rehab program.

After 22 months behind bars, Jordan
Belfort is released early for good

I think he should have been in jail
longer. I mean, two years.

Two years for wrecking thousands of
people's lives.

Upon release, Belfort moves to Manhattan
Beach, California, just south of Los

Angeles, where he finishes writing his
autobiography.

In 2007, Random House publishes his
first book, The Wolf of Wall Street.

It's a vulgar and hedonistic romp filled
with sex, drugs, and deviant behavior.

I was just writing the truth as it came
out of my head.

And this is what I wrote. And then
suddenly I looked back and I'm like, oh,

it was true.

Those who know Belfort find the book's
title amusing.

Never heard anybody call him the Wolf of
Wall Street. The first time I learned

of it was when I picked up a copy of his
book and came to learn that he was

claiming that that was his nickname.

The book is a modest success, but it
generates plenty of buzz.

In 2007, Jane Wells interviews Belfort
on his book tour.

He says he's a changed man.

I believe everyone is entitled to be
forgiven.

I didn't murder anybody.

It's not as bad as that. It's not. It
was a financial crime. I have a chance

maybe not reverse what I did, but to try
to make good on it.

In December 2013, Belfort's life story
hits the silver screen at Martin

Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street. I
have offered our lovely sales assistant,

Danielle Harrison, here $10 ,000 to
shave off your fucking eyes!

The film is a hit, grossing nearly $400
million worldwide.

Belfort is paid just over $1 million for
the movie rights and other fees.

For the end of the film, Belfort himself
makes a cameo. The world's greatest

sales trainer, Mr.

Jordan Belfort!

And to me, the most astounding part of
that was that they're basically doing

what amounts to an advertisement pitch
for Belfort's motivational speaking

company. Since his release from prison,
the convicted felon has built a

lucrative second career as a
motivational speaker.

Belfort claims he's paid $30 ,000 per
engagement, mostly speaking about

ethics and how to use his straight -line
sales technique.

So I want you to feel confident that
once you master this skill, it's going

change your life on every level.

Admirers pay anywhere from $50 ,000 to
$2 ,000 for the experience.

Belfort maintains that he's determined
to pay off his debts.

Yeah, listen, I think this movie for
that is an amazing thing because I'm

100 % of all the profits from the movie
and both books. And the books is

really... You are compelled to give, and
if I'm wrong...

50 % of all your growth earnings
straight to paying back. Is that not

anymore? That's not right. Was it ever
the case? Yeah, before I was on

probation. But now you're on probation,
you're no longer compelled to legally.

Not legally.

But the government says Belfort is
spinning another tale.

In October 2013, the Department of
Justice files court papers saying

still legally obligated to pay 50 % of
his income.

They say he has contributed just $11 .6
million to the restitution fund, more

than $10 million of that coming from the
seizure of his assets a decade ago.

And I just have no doubt that if it's up
to him, he won't be giving the money

back to the victims. The government says
Belfort pays just $21 ,000 from his

million -dollar movie deal in 2011.

In 2010, they say he pays nothing at
all.

What I see and hear from him is a man
who mouths the word remorse, uses the

remorse, but doesn't act on it. He
hasn't been repaying his victims.

The matter is still being negotiated.

Jordan Belfort declined American Greed's
request for an interview.

Former Stratton investors say seeing
Belfort in the spotlight has opened up

wounds again.

Tom Picorni lost $800 ,000 to Stratton.

He believes his financial difficulties
cost him his marriage.

After about the first three or four
years, I basically tried to block it

His movie came up, and that's when I
started getting phone calls from

on it. And then my oldest son saw him on
TV where he said he paid everybody

back. And that kind of made me mad
because he hasn't paid anybody back.

Bob Sharon actually lives just a few
miles from Belford.

Their kids even attended the same
school.

But Sharon says he has no desire to
confront the man who stole more than

,000 from him.

What am I going to go up to him and say,
you know, Jordan, you owe me $130 ,000.

Would you please write me a check?

I don't sit around with resentment
because then I would lose twice.

You know, I lost the money. I don't need
to lose peace of mind by harboring a

lot of resentment about it.

As for Agent Coleman, he says he hopes
Belfort's new business ventures are

legit. If he makes more money at what
he's doing, he can pay back more victim

investors. I hope what he does for the
rest of his life is clean and he stays

out of trouble, because if he ever steps
over the line, I want him to know I'll

be there to arrest him again.

An unvarnished look at the commerce of
crime.

It's $300 to $500 billion a year
business, and I just want a little piece

American Bikes, coming up next.

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