Jordan Belfort

 Stratton Oakmont was founded by Belfort as a franchise for Stratton Securities. The original founder was later bought out. Stratton Oakmont served as a boiler room which sold penny stocks and made investors rip off through "pump and dump sales of stock." [20] During his time at Stratton Belfort enjoyed a lavish life and was addicted to methaqualone, which he marketed under the name "Quaalude". [1][2121 Stratton Oakmont employed more than 1,000 stockbrokers in the past and was involved in stock issues that totaled over $1 billion. It was also involved in the initial public offering of Steve Madden's shoe company. The company was repeatedly subject to law enforcement authorities throughout its history and its fame influenced the movie Boiler Room (2000),as well as the biopic The Wolf of Wall Street (2013).Stratton Oakmont was subject to constant surveillance by the National Association of Securities Dealers (now the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority) from 1989 onward. Finally, in December 1996 the NASD expelled Stratton Oakmont and put it out of its business. 23 Belfort was later indicted for money laundering and securities fraud in 1999.Belfort received 22 months of his four-year sentence at the Taft Correctional Institution in Taft, California, in exchange for a plea bargain with the Federal Bureau of Investigation for conducting scams known as pump-and-dump, which led to investor losses in the region of $200 million. [1][26] Belfort was required to pay back $110.4 million he had swindled from investors. Belfort was in a cell with Tommy Chong while serving his sentence, and Chong encouraged Belfort to write about his experiences as stockbrokers. They kept in touch even after their release. [2829 Chong encouraged Belfort to write about his experiences as a broker and advised him to keep the relationship.