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Danny Porush is a name that sparks curiosity and skepticism. Known for his role alongside Jordan Belfort at the infamous brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont, Porush lived the high life of fast money, wild parties, and financial fraud. But where does that leave him today? In this article, we break down Danny Porush’s net worth in 2025, how he made his fortune, lost it, and what he’s doing now.

Who Is Danny Porush?
Danny Porush was born in February 1957 in Lawrence, Long Island, New York, into a middle-class Jewish family. His early life was relatively unremarkable he attended prestigious institutions and had access to a solid education, eventually enrolling at Boston University. While at BU, he showed an early interest in entrepreneurship but never completed his degree. Instead, he bounced between various small ventures, trying his hand at multiple businesses with mixed success.Porush’s big break came in the late 1980s when he crossed paths with Jordan Belfort, a fellow New Yorker with big ambitions and a high tolerance for risk. The two quickly found common ground, both driven by a hunger for wealth and little regard for financial regulation. Together, they founded Stratton Oakmont, a Long Island-based brokerage firm that would become infamous for its “pump and dump” schemes.
At Stratton Oakmont, Porush served as president and was known for his persuasive charisma and ability to rally brokers to push stocks aggressively. His influence wasn’t just operational he embodied the firm’s wild, no-limits culture, fueled by money, drugs, and status. This partnership would catapult him into enormous wealth but also entangle him in one of the largest financial fraud cases in Wall Street history.
The Rise of Stratton Oakmont
Stratton Oakmont began as a small over-the-counter brokerage firm, but under the leadership of Jordan Belfort and Danny Porush, it grew rapidly into one of the most notorious and profitable "boiler room" operations in financial history. Founded in the late 1980s, the firm specialized in manipulating stock prices through aggressive sales tactics and fraudulent practices. Brokers were trained to push speculative stocks on unsuspecting investors, often using misleading information to drive up demand. Once the stock prices peaked, the firm would sell off its own holdings for a massive profit leaving clients with worthless shares.Danny Porush played a key role in building this empire. While Belfort was the face of the firm and the brains behind many of the schemes, Porush acted as the enforcer and motivator inside the office. He helped foster a hyper-competitive, high-pressure culture fueled by huge commissions, status symbols, and a “work hard, party harder” mentality.
At its peak, Stratton Oakmont employed over 1,000 brokers and was handling more than $1 billion in investor funds. The firm even helped take companies public, including Steve Madden Ltd. Despite its size, Stratton Oakmont operated without traditional oversight and soon drew the attention of regulators for its shady practices and systemic fraud.
Legal Trouble and Financial Collapse
By the mid-1990s, Stratton Oakmont’s aggressive tactics and shady dealings had triggered numerous complaints and red flags with regulatory agencies. The firm had already been expelled from the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) and had settled several smaller fraud cases, but that was just the beginning. As the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and the FBI closed in, investigators began to uncover the full scale of the firm's fraudulent operations massive stock manipulation, falsified documents, and money laundering.Danny Porush, as president and key decision-maker, was directly implicated. In 1999, he was charged with securities fraud and money laundering, alongside Jordan Belfort. Porush pleaded guilty and cooperated with prosecutors, which earned him a reduced sentence. He was sentenced to four years in federal prison and ordered to pay $200 million in restitution to defrauded investors.
The financial collapse was swift. Stratton Oakmont was shut down, and both Porush and Belfort saw their assets seized by the government. Lavish homes, luxury cars, and private planes all gone. The firm that had once symbolized excess and unchecked greed had become the poster child for financial corruption.
Porush served his sentence at a federal prison in Alabama, marking the end of his Wall Street chapter and the beginning of a more subdued, though still controversial, second act.