Restitution
Belfort's restitution agreement required him to pay 50% of his income toward restitution to the 1,513 clients he had defrauded until 2009, with a total of $110 million in restitution further mandated. About $10 million of the $110 million that had been recovered by Belfort's victims as of 2013 was the result of the sale of forfeited properties.
In October 2013, federal prosecutors filed a complaint against Belfort. Several days later, the U.S. government withdrew its motion to find Belfort in default of his payments, after his lawyers argued that he had only been responsible for paying 50% of his salary to restitution until 2009, and not since. The restitution he paid during his parole period (after leaving prison) amounted to $382,910 in 2007, $148,799 in 2008, and $170,000 in 2009. After that period, Belfort began negotiating a restitution payment plan with the U.S. government.
The final deal Belfort made with the government was to pay a minimum of $10,000 per month for life toward the restitution, after a judge ruled that Belfort was not required to pay 50% of his income past the end of his parole. Belfort claimed that he is putting the profits from his U.S. public speaking engagements and media royalties toward the restitution, in addition to the $10,000 per month.
In April 2026, Belfort completed his court-ordered restitution obligation, ending more than two decades of payments stemming from his federal fraud conviction.
Prosecutors also said that he had fled to Australia to avoid taxes and conceal his assets from his victims, but later recanted their statement, which had been given to The Wall Street Journal, by issuing Belfort an official apology and requesting that The Wall Street Journal print a retraction.
Belfort claimed on his Web site and elsewhere that he intended to request that "100% of the royalties" from his books and The Wolf of Wall Street film be turned over to victims, but in June 2014, spokesmen for the U.S. attorney said that Belfort's claim was "not factual", and that he had received money from the initial sale of the film rights that was not entirely put toward his restitution repayment.
BusinessWeek reported that Belfort had paid only $21,000 toward his restitution obligations out of approximately $1.2 million paid to him in connection with the film before its release. Belfort has said that the government refused his offer to put 100% of his book deal money toward his restitution.
