Wolf of Wall Street Jordan Belfort to Repay $50m to Victims

Jordan Belfort, the US stockbroker convicted of fraud and the author of the book "The Wolf of Wall Street", expects to repay the victims of his fraud this year.

Belfort, a motivational speaker, said he will draw on earnings from a 45-city speaking tour in the US to repay some $50m (£30m, €36m) to duped investors this year, reported Bloomberg.

"I'll make this year more than I ever made in my best year as a broker," Belfort said. "My goal is to make north of $100m so I am paying back everyone this year," he told a conference in Dubai on 19 May.

"After six months of putting all the profit from the US tour into an escrow account, it will go directly back to investors. Once everyone is paid back, believe me I will feel a lot better," he added.

Belfort's Long-Island based firm, Stratton Oakmont, swindled investors out of more than $200m in the 1990s and that story was retold in a 2013 film by Martin Scorsese, with Leonardo DiCaprio playing the lead role.

In 2003, the former rogue trader was convicted and sentenced to four years in prison. The government demanded that a $110.4m victim-compensation fund receive half his income.

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) shut down Stratton Oakmont in 1998.