THE CROOKED SIDE TO WALL STREET!

There is a thin line between stupidity and making money, and this has been demonstrated in the 2013 American black comedy film The Wolf of Wall Street. But what amazes me about this movie is watching serious actor Leonardo Dicaprio who plays the major role in the film look so ridiculous...I gotta tell you, didn't know the inception/titanic star had it in him! He was so goddam funny! And the movie also being based on true life made me ponder this, did all this ridiculous stuff really happen?! the drugs, parties, sex, money spending, did I say the DRUGS?! Weeeeeelll...maybe some stuff could have been stylishly exxagerated, but the storyline would make you wanna do a little research on the main character of the film played by Leo, Jordan Belfort!

Jordan R. Belfort, was born in the Bronx July 9, 1962 to Leah and Max Belfort, who were both accountants (thanks wiki). 

He started his career as a broker at L.F. Rothschild after graduating from American University with a degree in biology.

As a result of his over ambition and not forgetting the unextinguishable hunger for the good life founded the brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont In the 1990s, which functioned as a boiler room marketing penny stocks, where he defrauded investors with fraudulent stock sales. During his years as a stock swindler, Belfort developed a hard-partying lifestyle, which included a serious drug addiction to Quaaludes (A hard drug which Leo took time to elaborate on). Stratton Oakmont employed over 1,000 stock brokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than $1 billion, including an equity raising for footwear company Steve Madden Ltd. The notoriety of the firm, which was targeted by law enforcement officials in the late 1990s, inspired the 2000 film Boiler Room and the 2013 film The Wolf of Wall Street.

A multi-state task force that led to the prosecution of Stratton Oakmont after his office was inundated with complaints regarding the brokerage.

Belfort was indicted in 1998 for securities fraud and money laundering. After cooperating with the FBI, he served 22 months in federal prison for a pump and dump scheme, which resulted in investor losses of approximately $200 million. Belfort was ordered to pay back $110.4 million that he swindled from stock buyers. In prison he met Tommy Chong, who encouraged Belfort to write down his stories and subsequently publish them. Belfort wrote two memoirs, The Wolf of Wall Street and Catching the Wolf of Wall Street, which have been published in approximately 40 countries and translated into 18 languages. 

His life story has been turned into a motion picture starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jonah Hill, and Margot Robbie, and directed by Martin Scorsese and has been nominated for five Academy Awards: Best Picture, Best Director for Scorsese, Best Adapted Screenplay for Winter,Best Actor for DiCaprio, and Best Supporting Actor for Hill. It has also been nominated for four BAFTAs, including Best Director, Best Actor and Best Adapted Screenplay, and two Golden Globe Awards, including Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy. DiCaprio won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy.

The Wolf of Wall Street has received positive reviews. Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 77% approval rating, with an average score of 7.6/10, based on reviews from 215 critics. The film has a score of 75/100 on Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable reviews", based on 47 critics.Rolling Stone magazine named The Wolf of Wall Street as the third best film of 2013, behind 12 Years a Slave and Gravity at numbers one and two. The movie was chosen as one of the top ten films of the year by the American Film Institute.

Because of scenes depicting sex (Check out Leo's 11 seconds), drugs (hence the Quaaludes) and excessive use of swear words (By different counts, the film is said to contain between 506 and 569 uses of the word "fuck", and sets the record for the most use of the word in a mainstream non-documentary film), the film was banned in Malaysia, Nepal, and Kenya with additional scenes being cut in the versions playing in India. 

Oh yeah! Jordan Belfort made $1,000,000 on the movie rights. Well lets say that being devilishly smart do pay, right?! He is presently a motivational speaker.