![]() ![]() He makes a very good living, then - but his income is a fraction of the vast wealth he enjoyed, and a court order requires him to pay 50 per cent of his earnings into a compensation fund for his thousands of victims. His workers were rewarded with massive bonuses and parties where prostitutes and dwarf-throwing competitions were provided as entertainment. He employed an army of young salespeople who aggressively sold stocks in questionable companies to unwitting investors. He had a supermodel wife and a drug and alcohol habit. He owned a sprawling estate in the Hamptons, a fleet of supercars and a 167ft yacht which once belonged to Coco Chanel and which he sank in the Mediterranean. In the 1990s, Belfort was reputed to have been worth £60m, earning £600,000 a week. The inflated price tag may have been something to do with the quality of the after-dinner anecdotes, as the man hosting the event was Jordan Belfort - a 51-year-old American ex-con who is among the most infamous crooked businessmen in recent history. But the man behind this particular "sales and persuasion" one-day course in Australia last year thought himself special enough to demand a US$5,000 entrance fee. The pitch could have been barked by any of the "motivational-training" snake-oil salesmen who ply their wares in the corporate sector. ![]()
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