Jordan Belfort and Danny Porush founded Stratton Oakmont in 1989, but the Long Island brokerage firm was more like a “fraternity” than a workplace, with wild parties, rampant drug use, and even company-provided sex workers.
Sash Alexander / Alamy Stock PhotoJordan Belfort , the “ Wolf of Wall Street ” who founded Stratton Oakmont .
Jordan Belfort , the notorious Wolf of Wall Street , surely needs no launching at this point . From serve meter in prison for defrauding investors out of hundred of million of dollars to pen a bestselling memoir about the ordeal that was adapt into the highly successful filmThe Wolf of Wall Streetin 2013 , Belfort ’s life of bacchanalia and crime has been well chronicle . However , Belfort ’s taradiddle is just one part of the larger story of Stratton Oakmont , the brokerage house firm where he committed the crimes for which he became infamous .
Belfort founded Stratton Oakmont with his business spouse , Danny Porush , in 1989 . The firm catch the oculus of the National Association of Securities Dealers ( NASD ) from its earliest years , and in 1996 , it was exclude down for fraudulent practices . Belfort , Porush , and their employees rent in a “ pump - and - ditch ” scheme in which they artificially inflate the Price of stocks owned by Stratton Oakmont before quickly selling them off , leaving their clients with worthless investment .
Sash Alexander / Alamy Stock PhotoJordan Belfort, the “Wolf of Wall Street” who founded Stratton Oakmont.
At its peak , the firm employed more than 1,000 people . Some of them were just as complicit in securities faker as their hirer — and others were simply swept up in a office they ’d never imagined possible . In both cases , the sixth sense former Stratton Oakmont employee have provided into the firm ’s culture and the truth about what go on behind the scene is shocking .
From the perspective of Jordan Belfort and the masses who worked for him , this is the story of Stratton Oakmont .
How Jordan Belfort And Danny Porush Made Millions By Defrauding Investors
Personal PhotoJordan Belfort , his second married woman , Nadine Caridi , Nancy Porush , and Danny Porush .
Given what he ultimately became , it may come as a surprise thatJordan Belfortoriginally wanted to be a dentist .
In fact , he read biology at American University with that intention , but he in the end left dental school on the first twenty-four hours after being told that the career was no longer a way to wealthiness . Instead , he started selling meat and seafood door - to - door , which finally bankrupted him . Belfort then pivoted to the stock trading business organization as a trainee factor at L.F. Rothschild .
Personal PhotoJordan Belfort, his second wife,Nadine Caridi, Nancy Porush, and Danny Porush.
Around that same clip , he metDanny Porush , a relatively median guy wire who had drop down out of college . Belfort bragged to Porush about how much money he was making selling inventory out of a steam boiler elbow room — let in that it was “ half a scam ” — and sell him on the musical theme of starting their own house .
Two month later on , in 1989 , that design came to fruition as the two men founded Stratton Oakmont on Long Island . They made money by effectively lying to investors about the value of penny stock and then selling their own holdings at a gain . It was a Hellenic “ pump - and - underprice ” scheme : Investors bought worthless share , and Porush and Belfort became rich . In 1991,Forbeswriter Roula Khalaf described Belfort as a “ twisted Robin Hood who takes from the rich and yield to himself and his merry band of factor . ”
Much of what followed was dramatize inThe Wolf of Wall Street : godforsaken party , lots of Quaaludes and cocaine , luxury cars , yachts , and private planes . Of naturally , it all eventually came crash down when Stratton Oakmont was rout from the NASD and Belfort and Porush pleaded hangdog to security measure fraud and money laundering .
Josh ShapiroJosh Shapiro, a former employee at Stratton Oakmont.
Belfort wound up serving 22 month in prison and was regulate to compensate $ 110 million in restitution to those he defrauded . He later reinvented himself as a motivational speaker system and an author . Porush , on the other hand , only continued to get himself into sound trouble , include working with a company that faced allegations of Medicare dupery .
However , while the lives of Belfort and Porush are well known , the stories of the people who influence with them are n’t as striking . A few former Stratton Oakmont employees have talk out about their time there — and their anamnesis show just how outrageous the house really was .
What It Was Like To Work At Stratton Oakmont
Josh ShapiroJosh Shapiro , a former employee at Stratton Oakmont .
In 2013 , shortly beforeThe Wolf of Wall Streethit theaters , a former Stratton Oakmont employee named Josh Shapiro sit around down with theNew York Postto verbalize about the environment at Stratton Oakmont .
“ I was swash off by the intensity — you could feel the pulsation when you walk into the place , ” Shapiro order . “ It was like walk into a club without the euphony . The medicine was the speech sound and the people speak . The vitality was just unbounding and unstoppable , and you want to be a part of it . It was almost cultish , and you were addict in from twenty-four hours one . ”
Dwayne Jackson/YouTubeDwayne Jackson, another former Stratton Oakmont employee.
Another former employee , Dwayne Jackson , has also spoken about his time at Stratton Oakmont on his ownYouTube channel .
In various videos , Jackson key his two years with the company , saying that he was “ just a kid ” when he bulge out at Stratton Oakmont in March 1994 . “ I did n’t know much about what I was selling ” or “ what was going on in the back office , ” Jackson recalled . He said that his first payroll check at Stratton Oakmont was for $ 11,000 — and that upper management encouraged employee to spend their money as quickly as potential .
Dwayne Jackson / YouTubeDwayne Jackson , another former Stratton Oakmont employee .
Warner Bros. PicturesLeonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort inThe Wolf of Wall Street.
Shapiro recall a alike sentiment , describing how some of the director at Stratton Oakmont would demolish $ 100 note as a way to encourage employees :
“ They ’d give meetings in the back to the cold caller where they ’d pull up $ 100 bills , throw away them on the floor and severalize them , ‘ Do you desire to be a unsuccessful person all your living , or do you want to make something out of your life history ? Do you need to be rich ? ' ”
Although Belfort often get most of the attention for his antics , Shapiro said Porush was just as inflammatory and wild : “ Porush gave group meeting where he ’d insult people , based on their performance . He would say : ‘ Doug , you sold 1,100 shares of stock in the last three week . You roll in the hay , you should have slit your throat when you were shaving this dayspring . ' ”
Sash Alexander / Alamy Stock PhotoTo teach sales, Belfort would ask his employees at Stratton Oakmont to “sell me this pen.”
As a cold caller and front office proletarian , Jackson did n’t see much of the bacchanal at the firm , but he sure as shooting see some things that were atypical for an situation environment .
“ One day , it was a Jewish holiday , and a lot of the Judaic guy rope in the office desire to leave early . It was like a Friday , ” he said in one video . “ And [ a manager ] chip in this Brobdingnagian spoken communication — he was definitely high on something — about how we ’re all stockbrokers and we ’re all going to Hell . He stood up on a desk and he retain up his pocketbook in the melody and he say , ‘ Do you guy believe in God ? This is God . My billfold is God . ' ”
However , in 1996 , the ostensibly myriad flow of money came to a rough stop when Stratton Oakmont was forced to close its doors — and the capitulation of the firm was just as messy as its line of work relations .
The Downfall Of Stratton Oakmont That Left Employees And Investors Broke
Warner Bros. PicturesLeonardo DiCaprio as Jordan Belfort inThe Wolf of Wall Street .
Considering that Stratton Oakmont had defrauded century of people , it only makes sense that those clients were left in a fiscal pickle when the firm was forcibly keep out down . However , it was n’t just investor who were burdened . While Belfort was ordered to pay off back $ 110 million , things mostly work out okay for him .
Still , he and Porush had encourage their employees to pass their money as quickly as they could — and those who listened shortly found themselves equally forced .
“ I did n’t save any money , ” Shapiro said . “ I spend it as fast as it amount . I never bought any prop — I did n’t cerebrate it was croak to end . attribute ? The future ? No . The future was right here and now … But eventually , the sightlessness from the drugs , the girls and the cars , the clothes and the money , wore off . These people were some of the bad people that I have ever met in my life — they would sell their own grannie in a moment . ”
Shapiro left just a few calendar month before Stratton Oakmont close up , but he did n’t mince words . He compare Belfort and Porush toBernie Madoff , with one exclusion — the guys from Stratton Oakmont “ have gotten off easy ” in comparison .
Sash Alexander / Alamy Stock PhotoTo learn sale , Belfort would postulate his employees at Stratton Oakmont to “ sell me this pen . ”
Belfort has also speak extensively about that stop in his lifespan , powerfully decry his preceding behavior . Still , many citizenry ask him for advice in marketing and sales , missing the detail of Belfort ’s narrative . The story of Stratton Oakmont is n’t a guide on how to get rich ; it ’s a admonitory tale about the subversion of money and greed .
“ In retrospect , [ jail ] was the best matter to ever happen to me , ” Belfort aver in an interview withBusinessLIVEin 2014 . “ Because it forced me to re - study myself , my value systems , my beliefs , and then , of course , I begin writing the ledger when I was in jailhouse so that changed everything … I do n’t cogitate that without that … I ’d be one - ten percent of the human being that I am today . ”
Jackson and Shapiro expressed like sentiment . They are n’t fully regretful of their metre at Stratton Oakmont , but they are aware that they want to make change to improve themselves .
“ If you ’re going to get into sales , regain something that you like , something that you ’re passionate about , and sooner something that helps people at the same time , ” Jackson said . “ I did things to people that they did n’t desire to be done , or I force them into stuff . But the karma come up back . ”
“ When I am present back , ” Shapiro said , “ I get a good feeling — I finger like I am absolving myself . But the guilt follows you a little bit , still . ”
After watch about Stratton Oakmont and how it made Jordan Belfort rich , find out all about the life and law-breaking ofSalvatore Maranzano , the Mafia ’s “ boss of all party boss . ” Then , explore the rise and fall ofAtlantic Citythrough 33 photos .
