Stratton Executives Indicted for Alleged Securities Fraud

Top executives of the defunct brokerage firm Stratton Oakmont Inc. were indicted for allegedly earning $5 million by misusing a Securities and Exchange Commission exemption for foreign sales of U.S. securities.

Former Chairman Jordan Belfort and former President Daniel Porush were also accused of offering $2 million to a potential witness against them in an effort to conceal incriminating evidence, according to the U.S. attorney’s office. The men, arrested Wednesday night, were previously barred from the securities industry.

Belfort plans to fight the charges in court, his attorney said.

The men allegedly acquired stock issued under Regulation S, which requires purchases to be made by foreign investors and not resold in the U.S. for at least 41 days. They are charged with smuggling millions of dollars to foreign companies they controlled to illegally buy the stock. Those shares were then resold.