Denise Lombardo

Denise M. Lombardo was born on November 11, 1963, in the state of Ohio, the third of three children born to Anthony Fiorito and Ann Lombardo. Denise is best known for her short marriage to Jordan Belfort. Her exact date of birth and current age are unknown. She was raised and attended school in Ohio. In 1987, after high school, Denise enrolled at Adelphi University, where she studied English Literature. She also attended Fashion Institute of Technology of New York where she studied merchandising and buying operations. During her college years Denise was a member of the sorority Alpha Omicron Pi.

Afterward graduating from college, Denise joined the organization known as Modern Medical Systems Company, where she worked in the sales department. Denise worked there from 1993 until 2000. She worked for the Smith & Nephew Company for two years from 2006 till 2008. She also worked at The Home Depot Company from 2000 until 2010 as a Flooring Specialist. Later, Denise earned a Real Estate license and tried her hand as a real estate agent, working for the Prudential Douglas Elliman Company. She has worked there since 2010.

Jordan Belfort founded Stratton Oakmont as a franchise of Stratton Securities and later bought out the original founder. Stratton Oakmont functioned as a “boiler room” operation that marketed penny stocks and defrauded investors by driving up the price of equities and then quickly selling them off. During his years at Stratton, Belfort was notorious for a lavish lifestyle that consisted of outlandish parties and the unbridled use of recreational drugs, especially Quaaludes. Quaaludes are a synthetic form of sedative and Belfort’s indiscriminate use of the product resulted in a medical addiction. 

At one point, Stratton Oakmont employed over a thousand brokers and was involved in stock issues totaling more than a billion US dollars. Stratton Oakmont was the firm behind the initial public offering for the footwear company Steve Madden Ltd. The brokerage firm was targeted by law enforcement officials throughout nearly its entire history, and its notoriety inspired the film Boiler Room in the year 2000; as well as the 2013 biopic The Wolf of Wall Street. Stratton Oakmont was put out of business by the National Association of Securities Dealers in 1996 and Belfort was indicted for securities fraud and money laundering in 1999.

Belfort served just twenty two months in prison but was ordered to pay back over one hundred ten million dollars to the clients he defrauded. In the movie Wall Street, Michael Douglas’s character is infamous for saying “greed is good” but Belfort is known for saying “I got greedy.... Greed is not good. Ambition is good, passion is good. Passion prospers. My goal is to give more than I get, that’s a sustainable form of success.... “. Belfort believes that “ninety-five percent of the business was legitimate....” but Securities Exchange Commission officials argue that it was not a legitimate firm “either literally or figuratively.”

[page-break]

Denise Lombardo lives her life in the shadow of Jordan Belfort’s past notoriety and does not do any public appearances. Her marital years with Jordan were short-lived and were at a time when he was working as a seafood salesman and just starting his career as a stockbroker. Denise has been able to avoid appearing on the pages of popular tabloids and remains a very down to earth woman who is able to avoid controversy and notoriety.

Denise is an educated woman and relied on her own inner strengths and abilities throughout her life.  She speaks three languages, English, German, and Italian. Denise has never sought out nor expected fame and recognition at the expense of her ex-husband. She focuses on her career as a real estate agent, and her free time is now spent with her new family. Denise remains an ordinary person, far from the world of show business, and there are no records, interviews or quotes credited to her regarding her time with Belfort. On the Internet you can find some old photos of the late 1980's, where she is with Jordan.

Denise Lombardo has been married twice. Her 1985 marriage was, of course, with Belfort. Their marriage was unhappy and ended with the couple getting a divorce in the 1991. Denise and Jordan did not have any children and their separation from each other was relatively easy as Jordan was already involved with other women, one of whom he married. The movie “Wolf of the Wall Street” perfectly depicts the lives of Jordan Belfort and his two wives; the role of Denise Lombardo is played by Cristin Milioti while Belfort’s character was played by Leonardo DiCaprio. Denise Lombardo herself had no onscreen involvement with the film but Belfort has a cameo appearance in the final scene of the movie.

In 1994, Denise was married again, this time to boyfriend with second name Mlady. She is not involved in any kind of extramarital affairs and it appears that Denise and her new husband are devoted to each other. There is no public information about children or her new family and she purposely avoids social media to maintain her low profile.

Related Biographies