Darren Saunders may be in movie
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SCREEN PAYOFF FOR FRAUDSTER
October 10, 2007 -- CRIME does pay - at least for Jordan Belfort, the high-flying stock scammer who ripped off investors for hundreds of millions of dollars to fund his coked-up, sex-fueled life of excess.
Belfort, who used his "boiler room" STRATTON OAKMONT brokerage firm to fraudulently "pump and dump" stocks, ended up serving 22 months in the slammer. But he's on the fast track again.
The Queens-born schemer just published "The Wolf of Wall Street," which has been optioned by Martin Scorsese. Belfort, who'll be played by Leonardo DiCaprio, will serve as consultant. And he's already pounding out a sequel.
Belfort owes his victims $107 million in restitution, and his guilty plea to charges of securities fraud and money laundering requires him to turn over half of all future earnings to them.
But during the years he was cooperating with the feds to convict many of his partners in crime, he lived like a king in Southampton, a few houses from Henry Kravis, and entertained lavishly at home while wearing an ankle monitor. Now he's even more comfortable in Southern California, although he doesn't see it that way.
"My life was utterly destroyed and wrecked by this. I've been lower than pond scum, and I feel terrible about what I've done. Hopefully, I'll get to pay everybody back," Belfort, 45, told Page Six.
"I was on drugs. I lost my wife and kids and my freedom. And if I had done all of this legitimately, I would have made 10 times more money and I'd still have my family. Luckily I've been given a second chance."
Luck is right. During his first go-round, Belfort smuggled money into Switzerland, was addicted to high-priced hookers, piloted a chopper while high on cocaine, sank a 170-foot yacht in the Mediterranean, and woke up in restraints on a flight to Switzerland after groping a flight attendant.
Belfort denied rumors he has tens of millions stashed away in the Cayman Islands and is secretly making more as a mortgage broker: "I make my money as a writer. Look, crime doesn't pay. What I did is still a huge burden that weighs on me. I live modestly."
Meanwhile, "The Sopranos" executive producer Terence Winter is busy on the movie script. Does Belfort have tips for DiCaprio? "He'll have to learn how to get stoned and stumble around like a moron," he told us.
