Gregory Coleman, The Special Agent Who Took Down Stratton Oakmont
It turned out that Belfort was right to be paranoid — he was just paranoid about the wrong people. While he was focused on men like Steve Madden or Victor Wang screwing him over, the FBI was years deep in an investigation into Belfort’s illegal activities. And at the head of the investigation was agent Gregory Coleman, the hero of the true story behind The Wolf of Wall Street.
Gregory ColemanGregory Coleman, a former FBI Agent who spent six years investigating Jordan Belfort.
“I spent hundreds of hours tracking down [Belfort’s] plane, the boat, getting the financial documents,” Coleman said in a 2015 interview with Philly Burbs. “I’m ready to have parties on that boat with the FBI. But it’s gone. It’s at the bottom of the ocean.”
Indeed, Jordan Belfort’s yacht really did sink off the coast of Sicily, just like in the film. However, Danny Porush was not on board at the time, and Belfort reportedly wasn’t rushing to the island for an important business meeting — he just had a tee time the next morning he didn’t want to miss.
Coleman was with the FBI for more than 25 years before retiring in January 2015, though he still does work as a speaker and consultant on financial misdeeds. Naturally, Coleman was no stranger to crimes like the ones Belfort was committing, but he recalled that it was tough to get anything definitive on the Wolf.
“One of the biggest problems I had in cracking the case was getting through the loyalties of his employees,” Coleman said. “Once I got them, it was a domino effect.”
Paramount PicturesKyle Chandler as Agent Patrick Denham, the character based on Gregory Coleman.
Those dominos eventually reached Porush — and Belfort shortly after.
Coleman had already had a successful career by the time Belfort crossed his radar, but the takedown of Stratton Oakmont would prove to be a career-defining investigation. Belfort wasn’t stupid, and he was a master storyteller.
“Belfort did not sell stocks,” Coleman said. “He sold a story. If he told a good story, you would buy the stocks.”
Belfort was adaptable, he and spent millions just to make it seem like he was successful — millions, it could be argued, that could have been spent on actually successful business ventures. In the end, Belfort had defrauded investors of $110 million, and despite his cleverness, the law ultimately caught up to him.
After reading the true story of The Wolf of Wall Street, learn about the real-life events that inspired Goodfellas. Then, discover the true story behind The Texas Chainsaw Massacre.
