Welcome to Black Sheep, a spin-off publication of my serialized memoir. SMIRK. While SMIRK was a deep dive into my unusual personal and professional relationship with one unique white-collar fraudster— Martin Shkreli — Black Sheep takes a broader view and tells the stories of a wider range of business crimes and failures.
When Jordan Belfort ruled the stock hustling scene in the early 1990s, pushing penny stocks required a veneer of respectability.
Stock peddlers had to get offices, secretaries, regulatory licenses, and business cards to convince people to sink their life savings into questionable companies. Hence, why Belfort built Long Island-based brokerage Stratton Oakmont.
In the age of social media, the barriers to entry are much lower. All it takes is the persona of a sitcom character, a swaggering attitude, financial podcasters as friends, and photos of yourself with a Ferrari, and you can lead thousands of fools into shady stocks like the Pied Piper commanding a multitude of ra…
