Jordan Belfort, co-founder of Stratton Oakmont, the most infamous boiler room of the pump n' dump 1990s, made millions selling bogus stocks to naïve investors. Now he's selling his story.
The book, titled The Wolf of Wall Street, is a 500-page “satirical reconstruction” of his career at the long-gone Lake Success brokerage firm. Random House, which bought the story, expects it will be published on September 25, 2007.
Additionally, the publisher's release noted that director Martin Scorsese has bought the film rights, and plans to cast Leonardo DiCaprio in the role of Belfort. Moviegoers will have to wait a few years to see the legendary scammer's portrayal, however — the movie isn't scheduled for release until 2010.
Stratton Oakmont's phony stock scams cost thousands of investors more than $250 million before the firm was closed in 1996. Belfort pleaded guilty to money laundering and securities fraud in 1999, and received leniency for cooperating with the government in roughly two dozen other cases connected with Stratton. In 2003, he was sentenced to four years in prison. Belfort was ordered to pay $110 million in restitution to victims; he's coughed up only $660,000 so far.