The Wolf of Wall Street Says He Is Making $100 Million This Year

Defraud investors of more than $200 million, go to jail for a couple of years, then pocket $100 million as a reformed motivational speaker. That’s the lucrative life trajectory of Jordan Belfort, also known as the Wolf of Wall Street. The one-time stock broker, whose exploits were chronicled in last year’s blockbuster starring Leonardo DiCaprio, told a conference in Dubai that he’ll make more money this year than he ever did pumping and dumping questionable securities in the 1990s.

Belfort, whose Long Island-based stock brokerage Stratton Oakmont stole more than $200 million from investors over seven years, is going on a 45-city speaking tour in the U.S., according to Bloomberg. He reportedly gets paid about $30,000 per speech, and he also earns royalties from his best-selling memoir and the Martin Scorsese-directed film from last year, which grossed nearly $400 million worldwide. Add it all up and Belfort says he will make “north of $100 million” in 2014.

The Wolf will not get to keep all the cash. As part of his plea deal when he was arrested, Belfort must use 50 percent of his income each year to pay $110 million in restitution to victims of his brokerage. Though Belfort says he is “paying back everyone” this year with his growing wealth, New York prosecutors say he has shirked his payments to the victims’ fund in the past.

[Bloomberg]