Leonardo Di Caprio Gives Career Performance in The Wolf Of Wall Street

Martin Scorsese and Leonardo DiCaprio’s (who shares Executive Producer credit with the helmer) fourth collaboration brings sex, drugs and an excessive greed of money to the screen based on the real life autobiography of Jordan Belfort.

In the last decade there have been a multitude of stories regarding corruption among various stock trade companies on Wall Street with Bernie Madoff and Enron being the poster children for most of these incidents.  Just when you thought you had heard it all, here comes Jordan Belfort.   In the 1990s Jordan Belfort, former kingpin of the notorious investment firm Stratton Oakmont, became one of the most infamous names in American finance: a brilliant, conniving penny stockbroker who led his merry mob on a wild ride out of Wall Street into a massive office on Long Island. In this hilarious tell-all autobiography, Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) narrates a story of greed, power, and excess that no one could invent.

The performances from the biggest movie stars (DiCaprio, McConaughy, Reiner and Hill) to the most unknown (Margot Robbie – from ABC’s now defunct PanAm) are engaging enough to make you forget you just spent three hours in the theatre.  One of my favorite moments was during a desperation trip to Monaco in order to retrieve 20 Million, we go from “Wall Street” to “The Perfect Storm” and watch a helicopter hit the ocean and sink a 170 foot motor yacht…hilarious!!!  Although, my ultimate favorite moment comes from Matthew McConaughy  as mentor Mark Hanna giving his invaluable advice to newbie Jordan Belfort. I’m telling you it is totally worth the price of admission!!

Where is Belfort today?  According to federal prosecutors, Belfort has failed to live up to the restitution requirement of his 2003 sentencing agreement requiring him to pay 50% of his income towards restitution to the 1,513 clients he defrauded. Of the $11.6 million that has been recovered by the victims, $10.4 million of the total is the result of the sale of forfeited properties. The sentencing agreement mandates a total of $110 million in restitution.

In an October 2013 complaint filed by federal prosecutors, it was alleged that Belfort, who had income of $1,767,209 from the publication of his two books and the sale of the movie rights for The Wolf of Wall Street, plus an additional $24,000 from motivational speaking since 2007, has only paid restitution of $243,000 over the past four years. True to form, Belfort denounced the accusation as “all lies … a complete fabrication”.

Currently playing in theaters now, The Wolf of Wall Street is a rollercoaster ride you don’t want to miss and is in theaters now.