Twenty-two-year-old Jordan Belfort (Leonardo DiCaprio) begins his career on Wall Street. There he meets his mentor Mark Khann, who introduces him to the world of brokers. The boss invites him to dine together and reveals the brokers’ top secret: “Cocaine + girl = success.” Hanna convinces the subordinate: “Our concern is to transfer the client’s money to our account.”
No one in the world knows how the stock market will behave. Nobody, not even Warren Buffett himself. Whether stock prices rise or fall is all beyond human knowledge, because it is a game of the imagination. Brokers don’t produce anything. For example, a share was worth $10, and now it’s $18, and the client wants what? That’s right, take your money home. The task of the broker is to prevent him from doing this. Otherwise, this chimera will become a reality. Instead, you convince the client that the market has changed and that is why you need to invest the profit from the shares and what he has earned in new shares. And the client will do this many times because they are all addicted to money. The same thing will happen tomorrow. Your client thinks that he is now fabulously rich, and he is really rich – but only on paper. Hanna summarizes: “You and I are brokers. You and I are the ones who bring home the real money – our commission.” Belfort has always memorized the advice of his boss and follows them strictly.
The market crash swept away Jordan’s dreams of a brilliant brokerage career like a tsunami. The firm Belfort worked for went bankrupt, and he ended up on the street. An unfortunate ending for a man who has recently married and is responsible not only for himself, but also for his family.
Soon he found a new job, guess where? Of course, in a brokerage firm. However, the scale of the new company was not the same. The firm was engaged in the sale of cheap shares to poor buyers. The firm’s clients are ordinary hard workers, clerks, plumbers, and they are all obsessed with a thirst to get rich, a thirst no less strong than that of Jordan’s former wealthy clients. And that’s exactly what makes Belfort’s work necessary. These people themselves put bait into the hands of a broker, for which they are ready to go, like a donkey for a carrot. Of course, the ambitious broker did not miss this opportunity.
On his first day on the job, Jordan sold $4,000 worth of stock and earned a $2,000 commission. Inspired by success, he opens his own brokerage firm, Stretton Oakmont, and hires guys from his city to work. New employees look like a rabble of sick people and a gang of beggars, but Jordan is full of enthusiasm and ready to make real business sharks out of them. He teaches employees how to talk so that they buy from them. From these pioneers, the backbone of the company is formed – Donnie, Wil Dow, Chester, Rody and Brad.
Gradually, the company is gaining reputation and employees. From a small office, the company moves to a large one. Jordan is idolized by his subordinates. He helped many of them in difficult life circumstances.
At one of the parties arranged by Jordan for the employees of the company, he meets the model Naomi. Despite the fact that he is married, an affair began between them, which ended in divorce for Belfort.
Naomi and Jordan soon have a baby. However, the loving Jordan cannot resist female beauty and this causes numerous family scandals. Naomi reproaches Jordan that, despite being a father, he never settled down.
Belfort adheres to the two commandments of broker success: “Sniff cocaine and have fun with girl.”
One day, Steve Maddon, a young designer of women’s shoes, and part-time, and a friend of Donnie turns to Jordan’s company. Steve Maddon is a rising star in the fashion world. The Stretton Oakmont brokers are selling all his shares.
Bidding began at a rate of $4.5 per share, after 3 hours the shares were already worth $18 per share. Even the sharks of Wall Street bought them. Of the two million shares offered for sale, one million belonged to Jordan through shell companies. In total, the dealer made $22 million in three days from this scam.
The moment came when it was necessary to hide the profit somewhere. Jordan figures out how to get the money out of the country and hide it in a Swiss bank. He hires an old friend and his family to move money to Europe. Five couriers carry $22 million to Mother Europe. The money ends up in Aunt Naomi’s Swiss bank account.
Donnie, Belfort’s partner, also wanted to hide his money in Switzerland. He hires Brad to transport the money. While handing over the money, Donnie gets into a fight with Brad and gets the attention of the police. Brad is behind bars. The police are investigating Stretton Oakmont in earnest.
The FBI finds evidence against Jordan and offers him a deal: “Either he turns in all his partners or sits himself for a long time.” Belfort agrees, after which he is sent to prison for three years. After his release, he is engaged in conducting seminars on the art of selling.
